


A Saviour's Bond

by SilentP13426



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Drowning, Fingerfucking, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Intimacy, Kissing, Near Death Experiences, Oral Sex, Other, Rating May Change, Tags May Change, reader injury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 12:35:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 27,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21730696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentP13426/pseuds/SilentP13426
Summary: When your mission for the Resistance is almost disatrously cut short, you are rescued by heroes of the Resistance. In the quiet moment of this rescue, you form a bond with this generation's first new Jedi.
Relationships: Rey (Star Wars) & Reader, Rey (Star Wars)/Reader
Comments: 39
Kudos: 147





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at actually writing and putting together a fic, so bear with me! If there's any relevant warnings or tags you feel I may have missed, please let me know.
> 
> This has been written pre-release of Rise of Skywalker and set after TLJ, so how easy it'll fit into the 'canon' will be up in the air till after that movie is released. I have ideas on how to continue this story, which likely mean diverging from canon anyway!
> 
> WORK NOTE UPDATE POST CHAPTER 11: My existing readers may have noticed the Rating has gone up since Chapter 11 has been posted, along with certain new tags. As you may guess, smut has been added to the story. For readers who are averse to such content, I will mention at the beginning of the relevant chapters if that chapter will contain said smut. Also I will general keep major plot points outside of these chapters so sex averse readers won't be otherwise confused.

You're slammed against the Bounding Star's bulkhead, as the aged light transport is struck again by the blaster fire of the persuing First Order TIE fighters. Sparks shower you as you stumble towards the cockpit of the ship, each step an acrobatic challenge while the ship rolls from Zuzek's frantic piloting. You take the next step, hand gripping tightly onto a grab rail. The next step, you're almost thrown to the floor again as the ship is hit again. One more step and you reach the cockpit, the door hissing as it slides open to your approach.

Through the threshold to the cockpit, you are treated to a diorama of chaos. Ahead of you, through the viewport, you see a thrashing rainstorm over roiling ocean of Warnatik. The control panels around the cockpit sputter on and off as power fluctuates wildly. Zuzek, your Duros pilot, wrenches the flight controls desperately when another flurry of green weapons fire streaks across the viewport again and you see one of the TIE fighters scream ahead of you.

Danara, the human cell leader, taps away at some computer controls furiously, "Zuzek! I said break into orbit!"

"I can't, if I raise too high from the surface, we're sitting ducks for those TIEs! At least down here we've got a chance!" he yells back.

You raise your voice above the cacophony uncertainly, "Is-is there any back up coming?"

Danara turns to look at you, her facade of fierce determination showing a few cracks, "Resistance HQ says they have a ship on the way that'll get here soon...I don't know how soon that's going to be though."

She pauses a second, before pulling a data drive out of a slot on the comms panel and holding it out to you, "Here, take this back up of the intel and get ready to use an escape pod."

You begin to protest before she shuts you down, "No time to argue, that's an order! Go!"

You grimace at this near admission of defeat from your leader, before grabbing the drive and turning away. It nearly falls out of your hand as another blast rocks the ship, so you rapidly stuff the drive into one of your overalls' pockets. That shot sounded like it hit a lot harder. With the same unsteady stumbling as before, you make your way to the escape pods towards the end of the ship, hoping that leaving the ones next to the cockpit will give Danara and Zuzek a chance to escape too.

More shots ring against the hull as you turn the final corner, metal shrieking in protest and low booms reverberate within the machinery of the ship below. You look around to see Borac lurch into the corridor, the young mechanic having just exited the cargo hold.

"What's going on?!" he shouts over the din as the impacts grow louder.

You reach out to him, your voice just as loud, "We're bailing in the escape pods now, come-"

Your words are cut off in a final explosion and then silence as a sense of vertigo overwhelms you. The corridor you were just in is bisected in fire and you feel yourself tumble with a section of the ship in the air. Borac and the rest of the ship are swallowed into the rain enveloped darkness, streaks of fire the only notice of their passage.

You lose all sense of orientation as the last section of the ship you cling onto hurtles tumbling towards the ocean, rain lashing at you while you hold onto a grab rail for dear life. Flashes of green and roaring TIE engines show you are not alone, but it's all you can discern before you're slammed a final time against the bulkhead as the husk of the ship slams into the ocean. 

You don't know how long you were out for, perhaps only moments, but you awaken to the metallic taste of your blood in your mouth, mixed with the saltiness of the ocean. In the flashes of lightning far from the horizon, you can tell that the wreck of the ship has yet to fully submerge. Land is so far away, but your desire to survive compels you to swim and so you push off the wall and try to swim into open water. You look up and see one of the TIEs hovering above, its cannons blasting wreckage scattered on the water, when it suddenly turns to face you. 

You shut your eyes, almost letting the water take you rather than die to the First Order.

Suddenly, the stuttering blasting of quad lasers rings out over the waves and you see red laser fire chew up the TIE fighter, its hull exploding into ashes before even reaching the water. Struggling to stay afloat in the waves, you turn to see in delight that ship famed across the galaxy soar towards you.

The Millenium Falcon.

Piercing lances of light shoot out from the Falcon's searchlights as its thrumming engines hammer at your chest, the pronged discus of its hull slowly swooping around you. Another larger shaft of light washes over you as the ramp lowers towards you, even as the waves begin to overwhelm you, your stamina rapidly seeping away into the cold waters around you. There are two silhouettes on the ramp, but you can't make them out.

With a sudden lurch, you find yourself hoisted up by the much larger of the two and as your eyes adjust, you see the hulking figure is a fur covered being, who roars in triumph as they pull you onto the ramp.

The smaller figure calls out over the roar of the engine with a fierce feminine voice, "Come on, Chewie! Best get in before TIEs show up!"

As the two of them drag you in, your dazed sight clears up and you see the smaller figure is a pale skinned, dark haired human woman, dressed in nearly all white, with a curious device or weapon at her belt. Is that who you think it is? The new Jedi that you've heard whispers of from other Resistance members?

Your breathing becomes harder, your heart beat grows louder and louder in your ears as the daze slowly washes away, the adrenaline surge that had kept you afloat now crashing down. You survived. Just you. The daze washes away but you find it hard to concentrate on your surroundings as you are sure the ship begins to move faster. The Wookiee and the human lead you to a passenger seat and sit you down.

From down a passageway, you hear a human voice shout out, "Rey? Chewie? Did we get them?"

Rey, that was her name, shouted back, "We found one!"

Just you. Zuzek, Danara and Borec are gone. It's just you. You breathing becomes faster and shallower.

The male voice shout comes again, "Do they have the intel?"

You try and reach into your pocket, but your co-ordination starts to become erratic, your hand shaking. All you can do is tap rapidly on the pocket the drive is in, a softened plastic tapping as your fingers wrap against the fabric wrapped device. Rey looks into your eyes, divining your intention and reaches gently into the pocket and retrieving the drive for you. It's not the only thing she can see in your eyes.

She hands the drive to Chewbacca and yells back, now partly crouching to your seated level, "We've got it, Poe! Chewie's bringing it over!"

The Wookiee trots down the corridor, drive in hand and disappears from view. Rey's eyes turn back to yours, placing her warms hands on your own ocean-soaked hands, as you barely keeping the cold from sending you shivering. Words start to fall from your lips in a stuttering and faltering manner.

"They're...they're gone...! Danara, she-she was the one who saved me from those stormtroopers back on my homeworld..."

Rey's face shifts to sadness with the understanding of your pain as you continue, her fingers wrapping around yours tightly. The warmth of her touch seems to spread through you far quicker than it should. Tears begin to mix with the salt water that still coats your face.

"Borec, he's still...was...*was*...a kid, hell!"

You begin to sob openly, the crash of energy expenditure from your flight of survival now total and you can't hold back. Memories of your team, your comrades...your friends, swirl around your mind. Times of hardship, times of laughter, your found family. Now all there is left is you. You feel as if you're still cast out on the ocean beneath, the storm threatening to swallow and drown you in its soul crushing depths.

In but a moment, as Rey takes your face in her hands and your gaze sinks into her dark eyes, the cold, consuming storm in your mind is blasted away by what feels like a new storm. Where once there was cold and darkness, shinging light and warmth takes its place. Where once you felt like you were being pulled down and torn apart, you now feel like your essence is being wreathed in a protective swirl of energy, easing your burdens.

The memories and feelings of loss are still awash in your mind, but you feel Rey's...soul, for lack of a better term to describe the sensation, support and strengthen you so you are not overwhelmed. Is this what the Force is? Is this the power of a Jedi, to bring this comfort? If so, you find yourself utterly grateful for the strength she gives you in this moment. Your gaze is still locked with hers, though tears blur your vision.

Wiping away the tears, you thank her and apologise for the state of yourself in equal measure profusely.

Gently pressing her forehead to yours and moving her hands round the back of your head to cradle it against her own, she whispers soothingly, "You have nothing to be sorry for, you've gone through a great pain and loss for others. We won't forget your friends, ever, okay? You're safe now."

She continues to hold you, the sensation of that comforting golden storm still wrapping around you, you feel like you are slipping away into it. Without conscious thought in that moment while Rey holds you, your breathing syncs with hers, that warmth almost entirely enveloping you as your strength is nearly spent. In that split second of connection there is a transition, and a whole host of new memories rush into your mind.

Endless dunes of blazing desert sands and dead starships, feeling alone. Rage and pain in a dark, snowed-under forest, holding a close companion to you as a figure in black wielding red looms in front of you. A mirroring chamber, where you see copies of yourself stretch out into the infinite distance, your purpose lost. More pain in a sleek, soulless metal chamber as a tall misshapen man laughs at his control over you. These are not your memories, but you feel them all as clearly as if you experienced them yesterday.

There is a sudden start from the pair of you from the sensation of this experience, you pulling back in embarassment and confusion. You feel your cheeks flush hot and see a look of surprise in Rey's face. She must have felt that connection as well, judging the knowing look in her eyes, it was not just in your mind. Her hands have not left their gentle hold of the back of your head.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't...I didn't mean to...," you stammer, feeling like you've stumbled upon some hidden secret or walked in on someone in a sensitive moment.

Rey places a single finger gently on your lips to hush you, "It's alright, don't worry about it for now. It's only..."

Her words trailing off as if lost in thought, Rey slowly shifts onto the seat next to you, now reaching for a blanket nearby and draws it around you. Patting it down over you, one hand around the shoulder furthest from her, Rey gently tells you, "You can rest now, I'll wake you when we get back to base. What's your name?"

As the final wave of exhaustion washes over you, following the gentle pull of her hand so you slowly slump over in her lap, you quietly tell her your name. The last conscious memory you have before sleep is hearing Rey repeat your name softly to herself.


	2. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Months after your initial encounter with Rey, you get the chance to reconnect. But did that brief meeting have the same meaning for her that it did for you?

From the cold darkness of space, to the warm blue yet cloudy skies of Rosadeeron, you expertly bring your courier ship down into landing at the co-ordinates that Poe Dameron had provided you with for your mission. As the engines whined and idled, with the ship settling into the dirt of the clearing you found, the knot in your stomach seems to tighten. The mission isn't dangerous, or at least it wasn't expected to be (who knew what would actually happen when it came to being part of the Resistance), but what has your emotions heightened is who you're meant to be meeting on this nearly deserted jungle planet.

You hadn't seen much of Rey since she and her friends rescued you on Warnatik, a few words of parting and a significant stare you shared back at the base before you were called away to be debriefed and she left for other duties. In the months since, you heard she had gone off privately, something to do with Jedi training that she had to do alone. It came as a surprise to you when Poe Dameron asked if you would volunteer to run a supply run to Rey, since the small ship you now piloted was anonymous enough to hopefully avoid the First Order. He barely had explained the mission before you found yourself blurting out that you would happily accept, his winning smirk crossing his face as is if he knew something you didn't before continuing to outline the parameters.

You glance a look over your shoulder to the small cargo space, checking to make sure the supplies you had been loaded with were still secure, as if you had not triple checked them yourself before leaving and in transit. Turning back to look through the viewport, you take in the vista around you. Gently rolling hills and the occasional mountain blanketed by thick green jungles, and the glistening of lakes and rivers dotted around them. Simply beautiful, you could easily forget a war was raging on around the galaxy.

But not that easily. You shake your head, trying to focus on the task at hand, but who the task is about still has your heart somewhat fluttering. Ever since that moment of connection the pair of you shared back on the Falcon, you find your mind wandering back to her in the quiet moments you have between missions. Clambering out of the pilot seat of your small ship, you take the step to the side door of the cargo hold that opens to the outside, your boots clanking upon the metal decking. 

A few bleeps from the hatch control console precede the mechanical hiss of the door opening and fresh jungle air mixes with that of the heavily recycled atmosphere. You take a deep breathe in as you step outside, the grass and dirt giving way to your footsteps. Closing your eyes, you let the sounds of the jungle fill your mind and take that moment to settle into the peace of this world. A distant echoing roar snaps you out of your reviere, and quick as a flash, you draw your sidearm. You're in the wilds afterall, not a sign of civilization.

Poe had given you these co-ordinates as where Rey had set down originally, but you had no idea where she actually made camp. Hopefully she was close enough that she heard or saw your ship at the very least. Drawing a communicator from your belt, you thumb the transmit button and speak into it, trying to not let your voice waver.

"Rey, this is Call Sign Bantha Seven Three, pass code...," you pause, momentarily forgetting the code phrase you were given so Rey would know a friendly had arrived, "Pass code one seven five Golan eight."

Releasing the transmit button a while, you hear nothing but static in return. Biting your bottom lip a moment, you transmit again, "Rey, it's....me?"

You regret the choice of words as soon as you transmit it. Hells, would she even remember you, let alone recognise your voice? Narrowing your eyes, you try to scan the treeline ahead of you for movement. You even call out her name to the landscape.

Shaking your head, you mutter aloud, "What the hell am I doing?"

"Not being subtle for a start," her voice came from somewhere behind you.

Caught totally unprepared, you clumsily flail around, feet confused between trying to turn around to face the source of the voice and to put a few steps of distance away, before falling unceremoniously on your back, briefly winding you. You raise your head with a groan to see Rey sitting on top of your ship, who was now laughing out loud, her smile beaming.

"The First Order better watch out," she teased, before hopping down lightly and with more grace than you felt yourself.

You wag your figure at her like a lecturing teacher, slightly wheezingly replying, "I'll have you know, I'm at the top of their hit list."

She now stands over you, the sun behind framing her angelically. You find yourself having to remember to actually breathe through the slight impact of the fall while staring at her, trying to blink the sun out of your eyes.

"I better up my game then, eh?" she chuckles, humouring you. "Come on."

She reaches down with a hand to help you up, which you take gratefully, your fingers lingering on each others forearms once on your feet before her. Without the excuse of the sun behind Rey, you suddenly find it hard to maintain eye contact.

"Is everything okay? Is the Resistance in trouble?" Rey asks, concern replacing the jocularity in her words.

You shake your head, "Oh no, nonono. Everything's fine, Poe just sent me to bring you some supplies."

You wave your hand over to your ship as if she wouldn't know how you planned to do that. Finally you look up into her eyes, trying not to let your breathe get caught in your throat.

"Hmmm, I came with plenty of supplies for a long while," Rey looked thoughtfully back at your ship then back at you, "I think he just wanted an excuse to have someone check up on me."

Your cheeks flush as her deep hazel eyes look over you and you try to stutter any other reason you could figure out before she smiles at you again.

"It doesn't matter, I'm glad to see you again," she cuts off any need for an explanation from you.

"It's great-good, no great, great to see you too," you return the smile sheepishly, your cheeks still hot, before waving back at the ship to distract her from your disaster of a reaction, "So-so where do you want your supplies?"

She laughs again, "Come on, I'll show you to my camp."

Over the course of an hour or so, the two of you work up a sweat in the jungle humidity bringing small crates and pieces of equipment to Rey's campsite about a kilometer from the clearing. Unused to the climate, you felt yourself struggle, though Rey seemed relatively untroubled by the labour, only the humidity proving an annoyance to her. Quick enough though, all the gear was brought over without issue.

Rey had picked a cosy spot for her camp, a small sheltered clearing next to a crystal clear lake, an idyllic scene that could easily go on a cheesy holo-postcard. As you sit down for dinner, you mention the beauty of the spot to Rey, who nods in agreement.

"I have to admit it's sometimes hard to do training when you can lose yourself to a view like this."

You nod in agreement, "I can imagine. Especially if you came from a desert planet, like Jakku. That's what I was told anyway about where you came from."

She looks up at you from her bowl of food, an eyebrow raised, "Have you been asking around about me?"

Did you just cross a line? "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be nosey! I mean, you're famous in the Resistance..."

Rey smiles slightly, but her body shifts uncomfortably, like the weight of the galaxy was on her shoulders. Perhaps it really was.

You look down at your own bowl of food, thoughtfully stirring the nutrient mix with your spoon, "And...and you did rescue me after all."

Rey shrugged, "It wasn't just me though."

To you, this isn't the whole truth, and you find yourself opening and closing your mouth to explain, but you don't know or have the words to explain this to Rey. Rey's eyes narrow slightly, as if she knows the words you don't know yourself but she doesn't push. So a quiet falls between over the two of you, the crackling of the fire almost roaring by comparison while the pair of you finish your meals.

The dull clatter of spoon and bowl has you looking up to see Rey puts her finished crockery to the side before standing up and stretching her athletic form. Life in the Resistance is hard, so you're in pretty decent shape yourself, but Rey is something else to behold. The hard lean life of a scavenger and then the intense training of becoming a Jedi leaves her body looking like a sculpture or finely crafted machine. It's hard to pull your gaze away as the lowering sun illuminates her in warm orange tones.

She walks over to the lakeside, peeling off her boots and legs wraps, leaving only her off white robes on and stepping into the water gingerly. You don't see her face, but there is a new joy in her bodily expression as she wades in slowly, the water creeping up her calves. Looking over her shoulder, Rey's face is indeed painted with that smile of hers and reaches out with her hand and beckons you over.

"Come on, it's nice to have a small dip, at least for your feet."

You put the remnants of your own meal to the side, next to fire and work off your own, much heavier, combat boots and socks, before walking over barefoot to join Rey. The water is surprisingly cool on the skin, your foot reflexively pulling back. 

Rey giggles as your repressed yelp, "What kind of planet were you from if you jump back at cold water and little ol' desert dweller me doesn't?"

"I came from an ice planet, Yeefrok. Getting into cold water was always a bad idea," you explain, though now powering through to join her.

As you stand in line with Rey, she's to drift off again into her reverie, her hands slowly drifting upwards and fingers splayed apart, as if she was feeling an invisible breeze. When one hand comes close to seemingly attempt moving through you, you awkwardly step and slosh away, apologising.

Her eyes open slowly, Rey's gaze drifts over to you, "It's okay, my fault. I was...in the moment."

You tilt your head quizically, "Like...is that something to do with meditating? The Force?"

Her chuckle never fails to fill up your chest, "Yes, I'm talking about the Force. This planet is...deeply connected to it, it's why I came here to train."

"Ah, I see," you nod, only understanding on some level what she meant, "What does the Force...feel like?"

Rey paused for a long minute, as if searching for the words she never had to find before.

"It is...everything. When you truly begin to feel the Force, to let your senses flow through, you feel the totality of it all. Birth, life, death and everything between it. You feel the flow and balance of the universe like the tides."

Rey turns to face you fully, and it is like a pulse of an intensity you can't identify washes over you. There is an aspect to her just as the fringes of your senses that you can't ignore, like hearing the engine thrum of a vehicle you can't see yet. The way she now sees you leaves you feeling bare and exposed, but you can't turn away.

"When I'm fully attuned, I feel like I can know the essence of everything around me," she continues, taking a step closer to you, "the plants around me, the birds above me, the smallest of creatures beneath me..."

Her final step brings her within a handspan of you, her eyes seemingly both drifting as if seeing things far away no one else can see and yet intensely upon you.

"...and you in front of me."

Rey's presence is so overwhelming, you feel like your chest and insides are wanting to pulled out of you and towards her, like she was some kind of magnet, drawing you in. Your breathe is slow and unsteady, your heart beating loudly in your ears. The sudden presence of her hands on your shoulders catches you unawares, but you barely move, even as it feels like her touch draws your soul harder to her.

"Rey...," you manage to whisper to Rey.

She looks into your eyes with a softness you had never seen from another person, "What is it?"

You feel a tear begin to well up in your eye, which you wipe away clumsily, "I-I never got to truly thank you for saving me."

"I said before, it wasn't just me who saved you," she tells you, though there is a note of expectency.

"No," you insist, the will to do so as fragile as a sheet of hair thin ice, "Chewbacca may have pulled me out of the water, but you kept me..."

Weakly, you pat yourself on the chest.

"...kept me from falling apart. Falling into-to despair."

Rey eyes glisten in the fading sun, her lips sealed, and giving you a gentle squeeze on the shoulders, she silently urges you to continue.

"I don't know what is was that happened between us...that connection? But it's given me so much ever since. The strength to continue where I would have faltered before. The clarity not to lose myself in the quiet moments alone."

You sniff hard, as a few more tears form and begin to trace down your cheeks.

"I thought in that moment back on the Falcon that I had lost myself into you somehow, in that feeling of that...light storm taking over me. And ever since it's like I have a part of you in me?" 

You shake your head, "I'm not making any sense."

Rey's hand slowly trace themselves across the back of your shoulders, drawing you to her. As her body gently presses against yours, your knees almost buckle as emotions and energies swirl in you, too much to take in now that you are alone with the woman who has never been far from your mind. She seems to sense this and guides you to kneel in the water, joining you and holding you so you don't topple in to the water entirely.

Sitting her chin upon your shoulder, Rey whispers comfortingly to you, "I never intended for that to happen, to *impress* myself upon your being so forcefully, but I don't regret it, knowing that it's given you so much."

You furrow your brow in confusion, "That was unintentional? It wasn't like...a Force ability? A Jedi power?"

Rey's head pulls back and she gingerly presses her forehead against yours, her fingertips gently tracing along your jawline, "Anything is possible with the Force. And I don't think it was just me acting in that moment either."

You open and focus your eyes onto hers only inches away, risking losing yourself into her again, "What-what does that mean?"

Her fingers run across backwards across your scalp, "I think you left a part of yourself with me too, and I'm pretty sure only someone with some connection to the Force can do it."

You breathe is almost frozen and paralysed in your chest, your hands now carefully placed on her hips. You can feel her own breathing upon your lips, stronger and breezing freely across your skin. The draw of her being is so overwhelming you forget everything about you, the tension of that moment almost crushing you.

"Join me again," was all Rey had to say, and she had you.

Her arms wrapped tight around the back of your neck and her lips locked with yours. Your arms curled around her back, finally you're the one to bring her closer. In the theatre of your mind or soul, that golden vortex of energy you experienced over the stormy oceans of Warnatik swirls around you once again. Feeling a surety you have not experienced in your life, you give yourself into it.

There is nothing outside that moment, past, present or future, that matters to you, just that you belong to Rey, and the tight mutual embrace you two hold doesn't even seem to break until the sun fully sets on that jungle lake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well then, it looks like this is going to be an actual series after all!
> 
> I didn't set out for the reader and Rey to get together so quickly, but the writing led me there. Hopefully you'll enjoy following along with this particular relationship!


	3. Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reluctant to leave Rey's side, she gives you some encouragement for the hard times ahead

Hearing the morning birdcalls of the jungle and feeling Rey's fingers gently stroking your head slowly stir you from your slumber in the camp's single small tent. The hastily constructed single person cot may not have been the best fit for the pair of you, but it was far better than the ground would have been. Rey, who was used to sleeping in the roughest of locales, had built it out of courtesy to you, smiling at your horrendous attempt to assure you that the ground of the tent would be fine by you. Not that you complained, it gave you a reason to be curled up snugly with her for your night's rest.

Your eyes barely flutter open before deciding you'd much rather keep them closed and pretend you don't have to leave this day. Staying in this cot, head resting on Rey's clavicle and chest, feeling Rey's rising and falling breathing, seemed like a much better place to be than back in the fight. Was it fear to go back, or did you just want to stay with Rey? Both were understandable, but the former felt like cowardice and left you feeling uncomfortable.

"Everything okay?" her words almost a whisper, they were so gentle.

You look up at her, reverentially taking in the image of her angelic face looking down back upon you with concern. It's hard not to smile for her, even if it's just soshe won't worry too much.

"Yeah...I'm just...trying to psych myself up about having to leave," you finally answer, but some honesty slips through at the end, "I don't want to leave you."

Rey's hand goes from cupping the back of your head to sliding down and under your jaw, tilting your face up and closer to hers, "I don't want you to leave either."

The kiss soothes some of your anxiety, but becomes a reminder of what you want to stay for.

"But if you don't go, they'll start to worry if something's happened," Rey reminds you, before teasing you, "Can you imagine how embarassing it would be for a Resistance X-wing squadron to come screaming in, guns blazing, only to find us two canoodling?"

You can help but giggle at the image, burying your face in her body to suppress the laugh, "We could always use the comm unit to let them know."

Rey pokes your chest hard with fake admonishment, "*Emergency* comm unit, Poe sent it with you for absolute emergencies either way."

"I know, I know," you acknowledge, still not making any effort to leave the cot. Rey doesn't either, instead drawing you into a tight embrace. The next few minutes pass blissfully quiet as you feel each others' hearts beat and the warmth of your bodies continue to flow between you.

"They do need you," Rey's words broke the quiet, "I know it's terrifying to willingly go back to the fight knowing what we face, but you have more strength than you know."

"I'm not afrai-..." you try to counter, but you don't believe it, even as you say it.

There is not hint of judgement in Rey's eyes as she gazes at you, "It's not cowardly to be afraid, you know? Each of us can feel so small because we know our foibles and our weaknesses in the quiet moments when we stand alone and seeing how the First Order is one immense monstrosity."

She rolls you onto your back and she lies upon you, bracing herself up with her arms to either side of your head, her hands clasped behind your head. You find your hands find themselves tracing along her upper arms and shoulders.

"But we are one as well, when we're together," Rey continued, her voice filled with undeniable conviction," You bring your strengths and energy to the fight that others can rely on, just as much as you can rely on the rest of us in the Resistance to bring what they can to this fight. Every one of us is that spark to light the fire of hope, a link in the chain that holds us together in this struggle."

Rey strokes the side of your face gently, lowering her forehead to gently press against yours. You close your eyes, trying to push the doubt away as you nod slightly.

"I know. Sort of. It's hard to keep going sometimes. Actually a lot of the time," you admit, the admission both a release and painful, "We manage to come out ahead here and there, but it's just so hard, we lose so much. So many good people, so much hope. It's hard to sustain that continued loss."

Rey nods as well in understanding, "I know, love. It would be madness not to admit it takes a toll on all of us."

The two of you curl up tightly again, a new peace of sorts floating between you.

Eyes still shut, you finally ask aloud, "You're comingnback soon, right?"

Rey nods, "As soon as I can. You better be there when I do."

You smile and return the nod, "Wouldn't want to disappoint a Jedi after all."

"Good, that's what I want to hear," she retorts before you both chuckle.

About an hour later, the pair of you return to yournnearby ship, empty handed this time, save for a singlensmall crate of used containers and some recording discs.

"I'll make sure that Finn and Poe get these," you reassure Rey, "Don't forget they sent you some messages too."

"I promise you I won't forget. I miss them too," Rey's smile is somewhat wistful at the memory of them two.

"We all miss you," you sheepishly reply.

The pair of you stand by the ship, awkwardly shuffling and unwilling to make the final split.

You try to break the awkward silence, "Rey, I-..."

She cuts you off as hugs you once more, pressing you up against the hard metal hull of your ship as she kisses you hard. Your arms coil around her while you try not to melt into her all over again.

When Rey finally pulls back, she gazes into your eyes intensely and with that same conviction from before, she states, "I will be back with you all soon, I promise."

You bite your bottom lip before replying with as much fierce pride as you can muster, "I'll hold you to that."

Finally, the pair of you release each other from your embrace, and you board your ship before you can find another excuse to be in her arms again. Closing the hatch behind you, you release a deep sigh you didn't know was trapped in your chest, leaving you feeling deflated. The harsh interior of your ship feels like a metaphor from already being away from Rey in that warm jungle, now that you've transitioned away backninto your lone environment.

The familiar pilot's seat accepts your body seamlessly as you strap yourself in, machinery and engines whirring to life as you switch on various toggles and switches. Looking through the canopy, you can see Rey standing near the treeline, arms partly crossed as she stared toward your ship. You give her a sad wave, the longing to turn off the ship growing stronger. She waves back to you, continuing to do so until you can no longer see her as your ship rises gracefully up from the dirt and into the sky and finally the void of space.


	4. Extraction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You join a Resistance operation with an objective that will hopefully bring about a reunion you desperately desire.

With another pull of the trigger and another TIE explodes in a fireball in front of you, your ship already banking hard to avoid its wingmate's return fire. In the months since you got this small courier vessel, the Discreet Messenger, you had upgraded its systems to make it have a chance in a fight, but you couldn't risk taking too many hits. Fortunately, a Resistance Y-wing swings in from behind you and drove off your assailant.

The air around the First Order mining facility was alight with red and green blaster fire, as Resistance starfighters harried defences turrets and TIEs, while transports dodged and dived to extraction zones to embark freed prisoners. Potentially thousands of enslaved workers needed to be freed, and many Resistance members jumped at the chance to join the rescue effort. You were a part of this same mission, but with a slightly different objective.

Before the attack force had left, Poe and Finn had quietly pulled you to the side, to give you your own objective. Apparently, not long after you had left, Rey had sent word to Poe that a Force vision had told her there was a relic of some kind on the planet, and that she intended to find it before the First Order did. Feeling that time was of the essence, she had gone straight there to see if she could retrieve it. 

That she hadn't managed to send word to you hurt slightly as Poe explained the situation, though your objective in this battle gave you cause for elation. While the Millenium Falcon would also be attempting the same in the battle, Finn would go with you on the Messenger to provide back up extraction for Rey, her objective now complete.

Now, in the heat of the battle, you began to see the wisdom in having multiple ships be ready to get Rey out of there. Pulling a stomach lurching corkscrew, you barely managed to avoid a salvo from a ground turret, scraping a wing off a nearby rock face.

"Hey!" Finn shouted from the navigator seat, "Are you trying to get us killed?!"

"Sudden evasive action was *somehow* not a top design priority when the shipyard built this postal ship," you snark back, taking the briefest of flashes to wipe the sweat from your brow, "Any luck on that frequency we have for Rey?"

Finn, sweating in equal amounts of frustration, shook his head, "No, the amount of ore is messing with the signals! See if you can see her on one of the platforms!"

"Dammit, how am I meant to pick out someone at this distance?!"

"She'll be the one wielding the lightsabre, they're hard to miss!" Finn pointed out.

"Oh..." you couldn't counter that point so much.

Second by second, the battle seemed to stretch on painfully, each moment its own unique struggle for survival. The two of you kept visually scanning the outer platforms and gantries for any sign of Rey. Then, a golden flicker of light. Not one you could see, but one you could feel in your mind. Your brow furrows in confusion before recognition kicks in, and you look again with renewed intensity. Still, you can't see anything, but that platform there. You're drawn to it.

Barrel rolling the ship again, you dive the Messenger towards it.

"What the hell now?" Finn yelps.

You risk taking a hand away from the control panel and point towards the platform, "There! That's the one!"

"I don't see anything?!"

"Trust me!"

Finn swore under his breath, pulling his blaster rifle close to his chest and prepping it. The platform grows larger in the viewport faster than maybe was comfortable, but you know the Messenger well enough to know when to cut in the aerobrakes and bring it to a hover a couple of metres above the platform. You can feel that shimmer of the light grow stronger in your chest, but there is no sign of Rey yet.

However, there is a sudden hiss of static on Finn's communicator, and a familiar voice comes through the speaker, "...-body there?"

"Rey!" Finn yells on the comm, "Where are you?!"

"They've locked down the exits, I'm at the one for Platform 12C, I can't get to any of the mechanisms," Rey tells the pair of you over the comm.

You gesture to Finn and point to the large, faded letters painted on the slab like wall next to the blast door, "12C! We're here!"

Finn nods to you, his voice now one of steely determination, "Rey, we're outside on that platform outside. We'll see what we can do on this side to get you out."

You set the Messenger down on the platform somewhat rougher than you like as you unbuckle yourself, switching the engines to idle. As you pull out your sidearm blaster, exiting the seat, you see Finn give you a look.

"I'm coming with you," you tell him, hoping your voice brokes no room for argument, "Either one of us alone out there is a sitting porg! You cover me while I open the blastdoor, okay?"

"I've got your back," Finn nods to you, hand hovering over the ship's hatch controls, "Ready?"

You nod, and the pair of you bolt through the barely opened hatch of your ship, boots ringing on the metal gantry as you sprint to the blast doors of the base. Outside of the Messenger's hull, the previously muted sounds and other signs of the battle drown your senses. The smell of burning metal and electrical fires fill your nostrils, the roar of engines and cannons hammer your ears. You can almost taste the hint of blood in the air.

The pair of you cross the distance in less than a few seconds, but the complete lack of cover on the way makes you feel far too exposed. You slam into the wall, tucking yourself in behind some crates, looking for some kind of access panel to work the door. Finn expertly find a crook in the doorway to shield himself while scanning the nearby walkways through his blaster scope. That glimmer of light grows stronger in your heart, and you find it hard not to have Rey's name on your lips.

Almost as if on cue, you swear you can through the thick walls of the base that distinctive hum of a lightsabre being weilded, and Rey's voice crackles through the comms again, "It's getting a *little* crowded in here!"

"I'm working on it!" you try to casually answer, finally finding a useful looking panel to pry open, your tools in hand already.

"Glad to hear it!" There was definitely a lighter aspect to her reply this time.

The crack of laserfire suddenly comes a lot closer, as a squad of stormtroopers double times across one of the nearby gantries, and Finn is forced to fire on them as you are noticed. You find it hard pressed to believe him and those troopers had the same training, his shots nearly perfectly finding their mark with every pull of the trigger, while theirs seemed to scatter around you like scattered hail. Not that you wanted to push your luck any further.

Tweaking with screwdrivers, snipping with pliers, you half tear apart the circuitry for the door, only to patch work it together, bringing its functions under your control. You woop with delight, barely containing the urge to punch the air in celebration.

Looking over his shoulder, his field of fire now clear, Finn calls to you, "We got the door?"

"We've got the door! Opening it now!"

With a spark of power making you flinch, you connect two wires and the heavy doors begin to open. More blaster fire zips out from between them as Finn repositions himself out of their field of view. Now the hum and crackle of the lightsabre is unmistakable, and your heart skips a beat as Rey steps carefully backwards through the threshold. Her form and grace are unmistakably that of a Jedi as she twirled that ancient weapon in her hand, knocking back blaster bolts that came too close for comfort.

"Get to the ship!" you yell to them, "I'll close up the door so they can't follow us!"

Finn nods without hesitation, jogging back to the Messenger with his weapon sweeping around for more threats. Rey looks down at you, and her smile beams from her face as she also makes her way back to the ship, though her pace noticeably slower, as if wanting to bridge the distance between you and the safety of the ship. You quickly turn back to the circuits and work to close the doors again. Though under your control, the hack meant the door was slow to respond and it felt like far more than the actual five seconds it took to seal the doors.

With the doors now sealed, you stumble up into a run back to the ship. Finn was at the hatch, waving the two of you to come faster. Rey was about halfway between you, eyes trying to dart to and fro, wisely expecting more trouble. Suddenly, there was the sound of more engine noises, a decent number of them, but a lot higher pitched than any starfighter sounds. As that thought barely had time to register in your mind, a squad of jet pack equipped troopers suddenly rose into view, blasting the platform and gantry with rapid fire blaster shots.

You see Finn quick as lighting aim his rifle back at them, sending his own shots flying back at them. You see Rey spin and twirl her sabre as before, deflecting shots. You see the whole world suddenly spinning and the metal grating slamming up into your face. Why did it do that? You can't feel anything else, at first. Now on your side, you feel burning circles of pain on your chest and gut begin to spread. You smell that scent of burning flesh again, far closer and fresher this time. Far closer and fresher.

Rey's scream of anguish and anger barely cut through fog rolling over your mind. As your sight shifts between the world around you and blackness, you see the airborne troopers suddenly slammed together and crushed into a sickening tangle. That golden shining beacon in your chest suddenly feels sharp and red, cutting at your awareness. Rey stands closeby, arm outstretched with a closed fist, her teeth gritted with tears rolling down her face.

You are vaguely aware of two people above you and the feeling of being dragged. Weak moans of protest and pain escape your lips as you are hoisted onto a new floor. That sound, it is the Messenger's engines. But you are the pilot, aren't you? You hear raised voices, desperate and distraught. Two hands press against the sides of your face and you can feel lips against your forehead.

"No, no, no! Please don't go, don't you leave me!"

Rey's voice words are the last thing you consciously register before drifting away.


	5. Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You begin your road to recovery, with Rey tending to your injuries.

Time passes in fits and starts and the memories that form are no better than half forgotten dreams. The pulses and beeping of monitors are always there though. You see faces with masks looming over you, tools in hands. The beeping continues. You are floating in a tank, something strapped to your face, but you don't have the strength to pull it away. The beeping continues. Her face hovers near to yours, tears in her eyes, her fingers threaded through yours. The beeping continues. Breathing is a dull pain, each draw of breathe you take seems like a small struggle you must overcome. The beeping continues.

There is a sensation of time stretched beyond your full reckoning before you begin to stir, the familiar sensation of your bed back on the Resistance flagship. The lights are dimmed and it is quiet nearby. Except for that beeping. You try to turn your head to see the source of the noise, groaning from the effort. You hear a gasp and the shuffle of someone moving hurriedly, before Rey is suddenly standing at your side. The relief on her face is evident, though other emotions seemed to be mixed in her features as she holds your face again.

"You're awake! By the Maker, you're awake again!" Her words come out rapid fire, as if they had been waiting to be spilled, "I am so sorry! I didn't...I didn't know if you'd-..."

The tears began to well in her eyes, Rey was barely able to hold back from sobbing. You raised a hand weakly to hold her face and drew Rey close, though the pain made the motion an effort.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," your words are a hoarse whisper, "I'm here now, okay? I promised you I'd be here when you came back, didn't want to disappoint a Jedi after all."

Rey lets out a small pained laugh, and the kiss you then share is a balm your being has needed desperately from even before the battle. She nuzzles your neck, her hands careful not to press down on your injured torso in trying to balance over you. You curl your arm slowly around her shoulders, happy to be with her. The beeping of monitors cuts through your senses again.

"Can we turn that thing off?" you ask.

"Oh! Oh! Sorry, hang on, I was-...I'll be right back!" Rey suddenly stuttered, carefully untangling herself from you before moving to the comm panel on the other side of your room.

"I'm not going anywhere," you reply weakly, trying not to smile at your own poor joke.

Rey clicked a few controls on the panel and spoke into the comm reciever, "Doctor Asnari, they're awake!"

"I'll be right there," you could just about hear a feminine voice reply to Rey.

In the minutes while you wait for the doctor to arrive, Rey drags her chair over to the side of the bed, holding your hand in hers and holding it to her lips. Soon enough, the door swishes open and a deep red skinned Twi'lek woman in her middle age walked in, medical kit hanging from her belt. 

She gives you and Rey a warm smile, "Well, look who's finally awake!"

Moving to your side, she shoos Rey back to give her space to check on you, waving instruments over you, inspecting the bacta gel dressing around your wounds and consulting the monitor readouts. Nodding to herself, she pulls the monitoring wires from their attachments on you, switching off the monitor and silencing it.

"You're all in the clear now. We healed the initial trauma of the wounds, but the worry had been that you wouldn't pull yourself out of the shock," Asnari informs you, "But we're past that stage now. What happens next is unfortunately a lot of resting and healing, which will be quite painful for."

You shrug, "I could easily sleep a week right now."

The doctor smiles, "If only more of my patients would listen to doctor's orders like you. It's definitely helped your recovery so far that Rey's been nursing you. If I had more medical staff and droids with her level of attentiveness, I'd be lucky."

Rey blushed sheepishly, "Well...I have good reason...to y'know..."

The doctor waved away the reply, "No need to explain yourself, dear. I'll be sending along B1-X9 tomorrow with a dressing and cleaning kit. Rey will need to keep your wounds cleaned while they healed, if you're okay with her doing that."

You smile at Rey, "No one I'd rather have looking after me."

Asnari senses a moment forming between the two of you and moves toward the door, "I'll see myself out. Call me if anything changes."

There's an awkward pause as Rey stands in the centre of the room looking lost, fidgeting with her hands, before looking at you, "Is there...anything you'd like?"

"Some water would be nice please," you admit, the dryness of your throat irritating, "I think I'm hungry too? Bit too sore to think about eating yet."

"Sure!" Rey answer eagerly, reaching for a bottle on the bedside cabinet next to you, bringing it over to you.

You try to sit up straight to take the bottle, but the effort is too much, and you nearly fall back with a flop. Quick as a flash, Rey catches you with an arm behind your shoulders and eases you the rest of the way, "Careful!"

"Okay, maybe I won't be doing that again anytime soon," you mutter in annoyance.

"No, you won't be," Rey teases you, though her tone carries a hint of worry and admonishment, "Here, we'll try this..."

Unscrewing the bottle top, she held a hand to the side and closed her eyes slightly. Slowly, a decent size blob of water rose from the bottle, it's surface rippling from the movement. Using her focus in the Force, Rey slowly guided the blob into your mouth, which you swallowed gratefully but with some difficulty. The water makes a big difference as you sigh in relief.

You can't help teasing her though, even though now you're voice is much smoother thanks to her, "Show off."

Rey looked down, hiding a smile on her face, "If I don't get to show off to you, who else do I show off to?"

"Hmmm," you make a show of mock contemplation, "Nope, not thinking of anyone else I want you showing off to."

A wave of fatigue suddenly washes over you, and you shake your head, "Ugh, healing is far too tiring."

Rey shifted herself onto the side of the bed beside you, taking a hold of one of your hands to give it a gentle squeeze, "You need your rest. If you need to sleep, it's okay."

You look up into her eyes, finding your voice wavering as you ask her, "You'll be here when I wake up, right?"

She leans over to kiss you gently, squeezing your hand tighter, "I'm not leaving your side."

"Thank you," you whisper as you relax into your bed, and sleep finds you like the turn of the breeze.

It feels almost like a moment passes when you feel yourself being gently shaken awake. You groan and shift in your bed when the shaking insistenly continues, leaving no possibility of falling asleep again. Groggily, you wipe your eyes open, your vision blurry. You quickly see Rey prepping some items on the bed next to you.

"Sorry I had to wake you," her tone sincerely apologetic, "I have to clean your wounds and reapply the dressings. I figured it was best to wake you before I started."

You raise your eyebrow in apprehension, "A day's gone by already...Is it gonna suck that much?"

Rey nodded grimly, "The medical droid warned me this could hurt a lot. A lot of fresh or exposed nerve endings, so painkillers won't do much."

Lying back flat, you sign, "Still think I'd like to try the painkillers."

Rey snorted to that, "Okay, I'm going to start taking off the dressings."

With delicate precision, her fingers deftly unwrapped the bandages and carefully peeled back the bacta gel packs covering your injuries. You winch and breathe in with a hiss as the fresh air rolls over the wounds, grabbing at the bedding instinctively. Rey shook her head with a slight grimace.

"Is it that bad?"

Rey nods, "It's not pretty right now, that's for sure."

"Hope it doesn't put you off me," you try to joke.

"Don't say that," Rey said softly, a tinge of sadness to her words.

"Hey, I'm sorry, I was just joking," you try to placate her. 

You reach for her arm, which you stroke reassuringly. She takes your hand in hers, holding it to her lips giving your knuckle a soft kiss and placing it back down on the bed. One hand with a pad of gauze and the other with a bottle of cleaning fluid, she prepared to complete the first cleaning.

"I'm sorry about this," she says with a strained voice before she begins.

It's all you can do to not scream or pull away as Rey cleans the wound on your chest. Tears stream down your forcefully shut eyes, your teeth clenched painfully tight while you try to keep still for Rey. She is quick and methodical, using the right amount of pressure to make sure your tissue is properly cleaned, not sparing your feelings over much. You have no idea how long she took, but it was a blessed relief when she dabbed the excess fluid away and put on a fresh bacta pack.

"I'm sorry if I was rough there," Rey apologises again, "I wanted to make sure I did it right first time so we wouldn't need to do it again."

You wipe the tears away, but nod, "I know, I know, just...Argh! Hells that hurt!"

Rey lets you rest a moment or two, stroking your face while you collect yourself. As if struck by a sudden idea, she removes one of the leather straps off of her robes and offers it to you to bite down on. You take it hesitantly, but accept it. The cleaning of the second wound is no less painful, but being able to bite down on the leather material somehow makes the time go faster, as if having control over something gives you a focus.

Nevertheless, when Rey is done with the second, you pant and gasp from the pain, letting the strap fall from your mouth. Rey quickly finishes reapplying the bandages, which causes no real discomfort by comparison. Your breathing is hard and laboured, you barely concentrating as Rey tidies up the kit and puts it to one side.

Picking up the strap fallen to the side of you, Rey stares in shock at the leather, "Wow, you have a hell of a strong jaw there."

Turning the strap over in her hands, Rey shows you the deep indentations left by your teeth. Your eyes widen in equal surprise, before you tilt your head at her eyebrow cocked.

"Would know be a bad time to say I'm hungry? I think I can actually power through any pain while eating."

Rey chuckled, reattaching the strap to her robes, "I'll head down to the mess hall and see if I can rustle us up some soup or broth. Might go down easier."

You smile back at her, adjusting yourself on the flat of your back, "I was thinking something a little heavier, but you're probably right. Thank you."

Rey gives you a quick peck on the cheek, "It's no trouble. Be back quick, sweetheart."

The door closes behind her, and you're sure you only briefly shut your eyes, but when you open them, Rey's already back. She looks over at you while putting a pair of bowls on the bedside cabinet, giving you a smirk.

"Ah, I should have known the smell of food would wake you," she giggled, "But I'm glad I didn't have to wake you up again."

"Sorry, I didn't realise how quickly I would be out of it..." you sheepishly murmur.

Rey waved away your need to apologise, "Can you sit up in your bed?"

You grimace as you try to sit up and quickly find you don't have to strength to hold yourself up, settling yourself back down flat on the bed with a huff. You look folornly at the two bowls of food, still steaming hot from the mess hall.

"If you spend the whole time using the Force to feed me, your food is gonna go cold," you note with embarassment.

"Don't worry about it, I have an idea," Rey tells you, carefully picking up the cabinet and moving it to one side, before standing in it's place and laying a hand under your shoulder, "Raise yourself up a bit."

You give a look of confusion but obey her anyway, moving yourself up again slowly. With only a few inches of space under you, you feel Rey's arm slide under your shoulders, raising you about two thirds of the way up. Perhaps less awkwardly than you'd expect anyone to try, Rey clambered into the bed behind you, carefully drawing you up her body. Her legs curled around you just above your hips and her ankles linked together just under your thighs.

You try not to put too much of your weight onto her in what seemed like an awkward arrangment for Rey, but you didn't have the strength to do so, and in any case, Rey gently pulled you back into her. Feeling her voluntarily take your weight, it's impossible to not find yourself sinking into her entirely. Despite the pain that still gnawed at your torso, you somehow feel the most comfortable you have in a long time.

Shooting a glance out to the relocated table, you have a sudden realisation, "Ummm, Rey, we can't reach the food..."

Rey rubs your head mockingly, snorting at you, "Ummm, Jedi?"

"Oh yeah," you realise, feeling rather stupid as the two bowls hover over to you sedately.

Rey dives into her food with relish and abandon, something you notice she does whenever she eats, regardless of how good or bad the food might be. Must have been a side effect of being a scavenger, you never know if food would be taken away from you. It did make you appreciate your food more in her presence, though this soup was pretty good anyway. In your present state, you do find yourself eating noticeably slower than usual, finding your arms a bit stiff.

Between mouthfuls of food, Rey non-chalantly says, "If you need help with eating, I can feed you."

Trying not to jostle her with a small snort of laughter, "No need, but thanks. Just letting my arms get used to moving again."

"Okay," Rey says, kissing you on the top of your head before going back to her meal.

Twisting your head to look up at her, you give a smile, "Better have not left any soup on me there."

"And waste good food like that? Don't be silly," she winks down back at you.

The pair of you finish your meals in fairly quick order, Rey with her ravenous eating habits and you, realising how hungry you were for actual food instead of the feed drip that had been in your arm while you were unconscious. Water quickly followed and you felt content, shuffling into Rey's embrace.

"Are you comfortable?" she whispers in your ear, "I can lie you down again if you'd like?"

"It's perfect where I am right now," you tell her, trying to nuzzle your head back into her, "It reminds me of that tent back on Rosadeeron. Very snug fit."

You can feel her smile as her cheek runs against your head, "Comfortably snug. Feels like such a long time ago."

Slowly, Rey wraps her arms around the front of you, carefully cradling your head in her arms. Her fingers gently stroke your face, guiding you to rest your head against her chest. As you lay your head to its side on her rising and falling bosom, she presses her lips to the top of your head again, and you feel a sense of peace sweep through your mind that lulls you to sleep again.


	6. Connection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After experiencing a nightmare, you and Rey have a heart to heart about the feelings and worries you both have.

Scarlet beams of ill intent lance around you, trying to impale you. Running, more running, trying desperately to stay ahead of a collapsing floor. Hard metal plates giving way to an inky and watery darkness. You slam into the ground again as you slip up, ice cold water lapping maliciously at your legs as you scramble to your feet again. 

All around you, ghouls of white try spitting more of those red streams of death at you, howling in both anger and mocking amusment. In the black sky above, obscured by thick clouds shines a single red orb, an eye, searching hungrily for you. Don't let it see you, don't let it find you. The words come to your mind in your own voice, but you don't know why. You don't stop running.

The floor falls away from you faster and faster, you're now leaping from panel to panel, but each landing hits harder. Your skin is cut on merciless metallic edges, the breathe driven from your lungs from ill aimed landing impacts. The water is catching more of you and it's harder to dodge between the shots of red coming towards you. 

Suddenly, the eye finally finds you and pulses angrily. You're frozen for a moment, but enough to be struck by a handful of that ghoulish fusillade and you're knocked into that black void of water. In a panic, you try to scramble for the surface, but something has your foot. Looking down, you see a tendril of red energy has you by the ankle and you try to kick away from it. It does you no good, as it pulls you down, water flooding your lungs as you try to swim away.

Lower and lower you're pulled down, and you see the tendril retracting into a mass of angry swirling red energy. You thrash about, wordlessly attempting to scream as dozens of more tendrils shoot out and coil painfully around you. The crushing pressure around every inch of your body builds and builds as you're pulled into the mass, enveloped by anger and hunger.

With a painful lurch, you sit bolt up right in bed, covered in sweat and panting hard. The jerking motion tugs at your still healing wounds and you clunch at them, gritting your teeth in pain. You spend the next few moments trying to centre yourself, holding onto the knowledge that you had a nightmare and that you're still safe. As you slowly turn to hang your feet over the side of the bed, the room lights partially turn on to give muted light. 

Standing at the room controls, Rey looks at you, that same concerned look on her face each time this has happened, "The same nightmare?"

You nod back wearily, "Yeah, the same."

"That's three times in a row now..." Rey shuffles across the floor dejectedly, the sheet of her cot wrapped lazily around her. She had 'officially' (as officially as such arrangements were in the Resistance) moved into your quarters a few days ago, bringing a cot for herself to sleep in when your healing demanded you needed the full bed to yourself.

You rest your forehead on your hands, propping them up off your knees, groaning in frustration, "I think I preferred the sleep when I was dropping off from exhaustion."

"I think I can understand why," Rey crouched in front of you, one hand stroking your shoulder, the other holding a cup of water in front of you.

You take it gladly, gulping it down, the motion giving you an easy process to take control over. A clean cause and effect problem to solve, with an achievable result. Experience thirst, drink water, problem solved. It was these little kind of rituals you give yourself that helped bring you back to normality.

Placing the cup back on the cabinet, you notice Rey has her head bowed, face hidden though her now free hand was unmistakably wiping away at her eyes. Gently laying a hand on her shoulder, giving her a soft squeeze, you whisper to her, "Is everything okay, Rey?"

She looks up at you reluctantly, the tears in her eyes obvious even in the low, soft light of your quarters, "It's my fault."

You tilt your head to the side in confusion, like a perplexed house pet, "What is your fault?"

"You being hurt...you suffering now, even in your sleep, it's all because of me," Rey sniffs, the tears slowly but still steadily flowing, "You've only gone through this because you came to save me."

Trying not to be harsh, you attempt to scold the thought, "Hey, now, don't be ridiculous!"

Carefully, you join her on the floor, kneeling in front of her, taking her gently by the shoulders, "I volunteered to come after you, that's on me, my decision."

"Would you have volunteered if it was someone else you had to rescue?" Rey retorted.

She had you there.

"Maybe not, maybe I would," you try to recover, "But that's not the point. We're in the Resistance, it's a dangerous life we lead, that risk is there in everything we do."

Pulling yourself closer to her, pressing your head to hers, you soften your voice, "It's like you told me back on Rosadeeron, we have to be able to rely on each others' strengths to win this. And that includes you relying on us to help save you."

Rey shook her head, "Relying on you shouldn't mean you get hurt for me."

You shrug, "There's no one I'd rather risk myself for than you."

You draw your arms around her, bringing her in for a hug. She hesitantly returns the gesture, as if unsure she's allowed to do so.

"It's not just you being hurt though," she finally seems to admit, "I don't feel like I'm helping your mind with my presence."

"How so?"

"When I saw you lying on that platform, almost dying, something...snapped inside me, for a moment," Rey carefully picks through the words, having to verbalise these thoughts for the first time and struggling to do so, "And...I'm not sure how much of me is still is...snapped."

A memory of a red flash in gold comes back to your mind, "I see."

Rey pulls back from the hug slightly, sensing that her words landed with you, "You know exactly what I'm talking about don't you?"

You don't let go of Rey, though your words are almost as uncertain as her confession, "I don't remember much after being shot, but that...feeling, that connection we have? I felt something through it, felt you become angry when you struck back at the stormtroopers."

Rey tries to push herself away from you, "You see? This is what I was afraid of! My anger is inside you too!"

You try to hold onto her reassuringly, "It was only for a moment! A moment, I swear to you! I've felt nothing since then that felt anything like that..."

Rey doesn't fight back against your attempt to pull her back in, slumping against you, her voice laden with guilt, "How do you know though? What if I've buried something inside you so deep that only comes to you in your dreams?"

You stroke her hair softly, kissing the top of her head gently, "Even if you did, you didn't meant to. And a lot of us have enough memories and trauma that burden us to have nightmares, with or without Force influence."

She snuggles into you, with a slight shrug, "Maybe..."

You hold Rey close, but you can sense her unease, her body tensed in your arms.

"There's something else, isn't there?" You finally ask gently.

Rey doesn't seem to react for a few moments, not a word spoken, but then she untangles herself from you slowly and shifts over to her bags under the cot. You can't see into the bags she's rummaging in, but she soon finds what she's after and then shuffles backwards on her backside up against the bed next to you. She leans against you contemplating the object held in her hands in front of you.

The object is a twelve sided polyhedral block, made of a metal of an alloy based in silver or platinum, the panels bordered with gold filigree and a sapphire-like jewel set in the centre of each facing. You are sure it's a trick of the mind, but as Rey holds the object in her hands, you swear you can hear a high pitched ringing, like someone running their finger around the rim of a drinking glass. With no real conscious thought or intent, you begin to reach out to touch the object.

You see Rey studying you intently as you reach for it, and you pull back a second, wordlessly looking at her for permission. She gives you a nod and you place your fingers gently on the cool metallic surface of the object. As soon as you make contact, a sensation similar to the warmth you feel when you connect with Rey fills radiates through your fingers, though there is somehow an impersonal aspect to the sensation.

You retract your touch and place your hand gently on Rey's wrist, "What is it?"

"It's the relic I retrieved from the mining facility, a Jedi holicron. They're meant to store ancient knowledge of the Force, specifically the Light Side and only open to a Jedi..." Rey trails off and you begin to put the implication together.

"You haven't been able to open it yet?" you realise and ask in equal measure, trying to keep shock out of your words.

Rey nods sadly, "I've been trying while you've been asleep, meditating when I can focus, but it doesn't seem to co-operate. I can...*feel* it pushing back against me gently."

"Well," you try to placate her, "Your use of the word 'gently' seems encouraging at least."

"How so?" Rey's gaze doesn't break from the holicron in her hands.

"If you were a Sith, I'd have thought it'd push hard back against you, maybe even some kind of retaliation. If it's only gently pushing back, maybe you're just out of balance."

Rey looks over to you know, a slightly pitying look on her features, "Out of balance is a a serious thing for a Force user or Jedi..."

You nod, "Okay, I guess you have a point...what could be throwing you off balance?"

She bites her lip contemplatively, looking away from you, then gazes directly into your eyes, "Why are you so drawn to me? Is it just because you have a Force sensitivity and you feel a connection to me from that?"

You feel a sharp stabbing pain in your heart, and doubt cloud your mind. Did she really think that that there was all to it? The hurt you felt must have been incredibly obvious because Rey quickly took a hold of both of your hands, trying to be supportive.

"I have to ask you because I'm afraid if that's what draws us together that we'll just end up hurting each other by coming closer with that as a sole motivation," Rey explains, "There are too many people who only see me for my connection to the Force, my potential to be the next Jedi or the next Sith. I can't have, I won't have you caught up in all of that..."

You sniff and lick your lips, closing your eyes tightly, "No, it's not just that. I mean, I can see why you might think so, but it isn't. That night when you rescued me, you helped me, even in the middle of that danger, you took the time to try and soothe the pain of someone who was hurting deeply. To soothe something that slapping a bacta pack or a bandage on wouldn't help."

Opening your eyes, trying to blink away the tears, you continue, words wavering as you speak them, "How can I not be drawn to someone with a soul like that? Force or no Force, you are special, Rey. Your kindness and softness make you as incredible as your skill and bravery, I'd be shocked if you could find someone who couldn't admire all your qualities."

Now, feeling a pang of shame, you tilt your head down, trying to avoid her gaze, "I guess the only thing that confuses me is what you even see in me..."

One of Rey's arms suddenly wraps tightly around you, pulling you into her, while the other pulls your face up by your chin so your eyes are locked mere inches away from her as she stares into you with deep hazel eyes. Her features are firmly set in an expression that broke no argument.

"Listen to me," her tone as firm as her expression, "You have no reason to doubt your worth, or need to justify it to anyone. You are just as brave as I am, if not more. I've seen and heard about what you've gone through for the Resistance, and even with the doubt and fears you've told me about, you go back to risking your life for others."

Rey moves her hand up to cradle the side of your face, fingers tracing your jaw gently, while her voice softens, "You're also gentle in heart, and that is *such* a rare thing in the galaxy these days. I hope you can hold onto that, no matter what happens."

You can't help but smile, cheeks flushing red hot. She is still holding your face so you can't turn away, so you close your eyes and nod softly, "I'll do my best."

She pulls you the final few inches closer to her and kisses you softly, holding your lips to hers for a few moments, before slowly letting go of your face, "You also make me laugh, which is something else not enough people help me do."

"Well you have such a nice laugh and smile, it's a shame to not encourage it," you try to tease her.

Rey chuckles, "Very smooth."

Leaning your head on her shoulder, you relax a bit, feeling a threshold has been crossed for the two of you. That light within your chest warms you as you settle in her embrace, letting the rhythm of her breathing relax you. Your eyes catch sight of the holicron sitting on the floor.

"Do you want to try the holicron again?" you ask Rey.

"Not just now," Rey says contemplatively, gently picking up the relic and considers it, "But I feel next time might be the right time."


	7. Preparation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey is about to walk down a new path and asks you to join her. Will you be ready?

Every loud engine whine of an approaching ship has you raising your head in anxious anticipation while you're working in the maintenance bay of the hanger, only to grow disappointed when it's not the Falcon approaching for its landing run. You had been cleared for light duty by Doctor Ansari, but not for flight status, so rather than sit in your quarters bored out of your mind, you volunteered to help out the mechanics. Rey was away on a mission, no longer able to justify staying by your side while you recovered now that you were up and about. The distance was growing unbearable.

R5-DX wheeled over, beeping up to you about trying to fix up some disused A-wings the Resistance had recently salvaged.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get right to that after I sort out the stabilizers on this X-wing, Poe's been getting on my ass about it," you yell down to the persistent droid, raising your voice over the din of power tools.

The old droid turned away, sarcastically noting they wouldn't be holding their breathe, droid or not. Pulling your protective goggles down over your eyes, you laugh to yourself. R5-DX was a crotchety droid, but a solid mechanic and actually pretty easy to work with compared to some others in the hanger bays. After the days being stuck in bed, it felt good to actually contributing somehow, the silver lining of being away away from Rey again.

There's something soothing and meditative about fixing and maintaining equipment, there's a cleaness & clarity that life usually didn't have, despite what others might say about the mess of oil. Test this circuit, grease this servo, replace this fuse, recharge this capacitor. You feel you could lose yourself in the work until exhaustion. Soon enough, with a final flick of a switch, the stabilisers on the X-wing you've been fixing spring to life with a comforting hum.

As you hop down from the starfighter, your ears pique up to a familiar sound. Over the tops of all craft within the hangar, the familiar battered and worn hull of the Millenium Falcon hovers into view, the famed light freighter flying in for a landing. You find yourself already closeby before the ramp has barely begun to descend, fidgeting with the tools in your hand. Realising the state of yourself covered in machine oil and grease, you hurriedly try to wipe the dirt from your face with a spare rag.

Rumbling down the ramp first came BB-8, the excitable astro-droid, already heading off to who know where, and followed by Chewbacca. The venerable wookiee gives you a rough and friendly ruffle of your hair, growling that Rey would be out soon, chuckling as he ambled off for his debrief, leaving you with flushed cheeks. Had Rey been talking to Chewie about you or were you just so obvious?

A few moments later, Rey came down, seemingly lost in thought, her worn messenger bag held tightly in hand. Her far off expression suddenly snapped back to the present as she noticed you and that smile that warmed your heart was back. The distance between was quickly gone and the two of you were in each others arms, you finding yourself sinking into her embrace. You find yourself suddenly sensing a weariness radiating off Rey, as if she was only now able to share a burden she was hiding.

Leaning back in the hug, you look into her eyes searching for an answer, "What's wrong, Rey?"

Her gaze softens in response, "I'll tell you soon, okay?"

You nod in acceptance, "Just don't bottle it up too long..."

"I won't," Rey smiles again, then looks you up and down, "You're a real mess!"

You blush and try to stammer out an apology or explanation before she takes a hold of you firmly and pulls you in for a long deep kiss. Time melts away as one of Rey's hands wraps around the back of your head and her other curls around the side of your face, her tongue exploring your mouth. It's Rey who breaks off the kiss as she leaves you too dazed, still maintaining her grip on you somewhat possessively as she looks you up and down.

As Rey bites her lip, her voice is deep, almost a rumble, you feel from her chest to yours, "I've really missed you..."

Your voice is much softer, "I've missed you too...did you find what you needed?"

That distracted and thoughtful expression fell over Rey's face again and she started to leave the hanger, one hand traced down to your own before taking a hold of you so you were dragged along, "I'll explain to you all. I'm sure the General won't mind you sitting in on this one."

Your heart drops as you are led out of the hangar, the complaining of R5-DX following you through the blast doors.

Some time later you find yourself sat in the impromptu conference room, trying to make yourself take up as little space as possible within the room as the tensions beginning to slowly rise. You're sat on a chair behind Rey, who sits up confidently facing the others around the table. At the head of said table sat General Leia Organa herself, her eyes holding that steely gaze that betrayed nothing. Opposite Rey sat Poe Dameron, whose entire body language gave away nearly everything, specifically right now frustration.

"You want to go out again?" Poe asked incredulously, "Didn't the holicron give you the information you needed?!"

Rey met his questioning with calm resolve, "It gave me some of the answers I needed and a path to follow. More secrets of the Force, but I found a clue to...something."

Poe threw his hands up in exasperation, "'Something', very specific! You're our best fighter, Rey! We need you in the fight, not out on a wild bantha chase!"

Leia raised her hand in caution, and Poe instantly back off, though his annoyance was still evident. The General's voice was steady and firm as she asked Rey, "What kind of question are you hoping to get an answer if you follow up on this?"

Rey leaned back in her seat, picking her words with care, "I've had visions about the Dark Side...about the call to it. And I think I need to know more about it to understand how it can call people to it."

Leia gave Rey a disapproving look, and Poe cut in, "That doesn't sound like a smart idea, Rey. We've seen how easy it can drag anyone in, it happened to Kylo..."

You winced as Rey shot Poe a look, Leia's posture stiffened, and Poe put his hands up defensively, "Sorry, that was too far..."

"No, it wasn't," Leia's voice had the slightest tremor in it, though that may have been your second hand embarassment, "He's right, this is a *dangerous* path to walk."

Rey nodded, "I know, I'll be careful. And I'll try to look into this one avenue as quickly as I can. If you're short on assets, I won't need the Falcon for this trip."

Poe's eyebrow cocked, "And how you gonna make these trips?"

The hair on your neck stands on air as Rey now turned over her shoulder to you, giving you a private smile, "We'll take the Messenger. It's still relatively unknown."

"I-I can have the Messenger ready in-..." you pipe up, but quickly shot down as Poe points at you.

"No, I saw the doc's report, light duty for you. Any Force or Jedi related mission is the *complete* opposite of light duty."

Leia made a side nod towards Poe, "He's not wrong."

"We'll be careful. Any sign of First Order, we're out," Rey countered.

You try to nod along, feeling slightly more confident with Rey's insistence, "I'm not out to repeat some heroics any time soon."

Leia's gaze suddenly turned to you, and you can barely stop yourself freezing to the spot, "It's not just the First Order. Even to those who aren't Jedi or Sith, walking along the paths of discovery with the Force is dangerous, and exact a cost you might not know needs to be paid."

There was a deeper understanding to these words you felt Leia try to impart upon you somehow, and it left you feeling unsettled. A shifting glance from Rey switching between you and the General made you think it wasn't your imagination that an additional layer of power were in Leia's words. Nonetheless, you held fast.

"I'm ready," you state with maybe more certainty than you had any right to.

Leia studies you for a long time before slowly nodding, "You have my backing."

It was about an hour later that the two of you were back in your quarters, prepping some expedition equipment. Rey had informed you all of the intended destination, the arctic moon of Ariktan, where a possible Sith ruin lay. The climate sounded appealing, or at least familiar, to you. The Sith ruin on the other hand was another matter entirely. You find yourself fidgeting with a pair of heavy thermal gloves before turning to sit on the bed to face Rey, who seemed more thoughtful about the actual items she would need for an unfamiliar climate.

It takes you a moment to verbalise a lingering worry, "Rey? Why are we going to this place? I know it's important, it's just...I have a bad feeling about this."

"Why about this?" Rey looks up at you from her pack, a curious expression on her face.

"Maybe I'm just being paranoid about dipping into Sith stuff," you try to explain, "It's not like I know much, but I feel like we're tempting fate looking into dark stuff like this."

You pause, then add, "Pun not intended."

Rey seemed to consider something as she walked over to you, sitting down in front of you, but sitting silently. You take her hands in yours softly, and try to look into her eyes, "Rey? What's going on?"

You don't press her, though the feeling that something is indeed wrong begins to weigh the room down, to the point you feel like it's a struggle to breathe. Eventually Rey squeezes your hands slightly and looks up into your eyes.

She finally starts to explain, "I've...I've been having visions recently. Visions that worry me. Especially when I've found new teachings and meditations on the Force. Like...with new understanding of the Light, the Dark has tried to balance it out and tempt easier paths."

This did not bode well, and you felt like there was more you needed to know, so now you pressed her for more, "What kind of visions, Rey?"

"Visions of the Dark Side, the First Order, all of that triumphing. The Resistance crushed, all our friends dead..."

"To be honest, I think we all have those kind of nightmares, Rey."

"It's not that part that's the worst. The worst part is seeing me at the front of it all. A Sith version of myself leading the First Order, the whole galaxy in fear of me atop a throne of darkness," Rey looked down to avoid your eyes.

You stroke her hair gently, "I don't think it's possible that you'll succumb to the Dark Side, Rey."

She looks back up at you, an edge to her voice and eyes, "There have been moments, my sweetheart. Moments where I can feel that I could give in to the easier road, to let loose all bonds to push aside any obstacle. Like when I faced Kylo Ren on Starkiller Base. When I entered that cave on Ahch To to follow yet another vision."

You find it hard to respond directly to these revelations, but feel you have to say something, "I can't speak for how you feel, but everything I've seen makes me think you won't fall when it comes down to that critical moment... Is this ruin going to give you what you need to figure out these visions?"

Rey shrugged, "Maybe. I just hope the answers don't lead me down a path I don't want to go."

You gently kiss her on the forehead, "Then I'm glad I'm coming, I'll be your beacon so you won't lose yourself in the dark."

"Thank you," she looks at you with a sad smile, before granting a gentle, lingering kiss.

There was something in her voice that made you wonder if Rey didn't believe she could be saved if it came down to it. It was a quiet doubt that lingered all the way to when you boarded the ship, but one you hid away in the back of your mind as the engines came to life and you flew off into the star filled skies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first chapter I've written since seeing Rise of Skywalker (of which I have...thoughts on). I will be continuing this story and may touch upon events that happen within that movie when the timelines align and incorporate some aspects, but I won't hold all of it as gospel.


	8. Transit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As you and Rey travel to Ariktan, you try to prepare for the trials ahead and reconnect with Rey since her absence.

"...and then...and then Danara walked in, took one look at us and said that a droid was a better way to hook into the computer," you barely manage to finish the anecdote while Rey barely managed not to roll out of the navigator's seat further back in the Messenger.

"You can not be serious!" Rey screeched.

You raise your hands defensively, shaking your head, "I swear on my life, Zuzek was limping around with a bacta pack for a week!"

You and Rey laugh until tears finish rolling down your cheeks, breathing hard once you can finally catch your breath. Wiping some tears away, Rey sighed hard, "I wish I had the chance to meet them…"

You sigh as well, though more from the hits of nostalgia, "Yeah...they were wonderful people…"

The rumble of the Messenger's engines fills the sudden quiet and you find yourself lost in more memories of your old team. A sudden tap on your shoulder brings you back to the present and you realise that Rey is tapping a water bottle against your shoulder in offer. For a moment, you are instead transfixed by the shimmering lights of hyperspace rippling across her skin before accepting it with a thanks and a kiss on her hand.

This hyperspace journey was a lot longer than most journeys you were used to, such was the difficulty of reaching Ariktan. The First Order controlled many of the primary hyperspace lanes throughout the galaxy and minor hyperspace routes between the current location of the Resistance and the moon made for a circuitous route. Your ship wasn't the fastest of ships either, so you were in for a relatively long haul. It meant a lot of quiet moments, but with Rey these silences were of a comfortable kind.

With a shudder, the Messenger dropped out of hyperspace, ready for the next jump and final leg of their journey. As you began to prepare the next set of coordinates, Rey stood up and headed over to the machinery bay at the back of the ship. Only the sound of clanking metal and sparks let you know that anything was going on in the back and you wheeled around in your chair, trying to understand what was going on.

"Hey," you yell back, "What are you doing to my ship?"

"Making it better," came Rey's mischievous reply, followed by a small final exclamation of success and a clunky of something snapping off.

Shuffling out from under a piece of equipment, Rey held aloft a device you didn't feel comfortable about no longer being connected to the rest of your ship. You gave her an intensely sceptical look as she strutted over to you triumphantly, wiggling the mechanism in her hand.

"Are you quite finished gutting my ship?"

Rey smirked to herself, slowly climbing onto your lap facing you, "Gutting your ship? Trust me, you do *not* need this spatial compensator."

Your eyes widen in horror as you look up at her, "The spatial-? No, we need that to jump into hyperspace without…-"

Without giving you the chance to respond, Rey slid her arm past you, over your shoulder and engaged the hyperdrive behind you. For the first time in a long while, the entire ship didn't lurch the usual way it did when jumping into faster-than-light. Looking down at your face framed between her arms, Rey raised both her eyebrows inviting you to comment.

"Well...okay...I guess…" you stammer, feeling the heat rise in your body as Rey has you firmly planted in your seat, before awkwardly poking her in the chest, "But I get to have a go at looking over the Falcon."

Rey shook her head, still smiling, "Oh no, you couldn't handle working on the Falcon!"

Cocking an eyebrow up, you tilt your head sceptically, "Oh and you can?"

Rey nodded, "Yup, I can handle anything."

"My ship included?"

"The Falcon...the Messenger…," Rey slowly lowers her lips to your ear, slightly tightening the crash harness you habitually fasten while in the seat, "You."

You have no chance at stopping your cheeks flushing, and can only accept the obvious as you meet her gaze, "It...helps that I like you handling me."

"Good," she whispers again before sliding her arms behind you and holding you in a kiss.

In the privacy of the Messenger, you treasure this moment between the two of you, away from anyone else, the Resistance, the First Order, the whole galaxy. They could wait. The feeling of letting yourself drift into Rey in nearly every sense of the concept gave you a peace you were sure you could never experience anywhere else. You couldn't bare for that to be taken away from you. That thought of loss pulls you back towards thoughts of doubt.

As Rey gave you a little breathing space, you shakily ask, "What can I-we...I expect to have to face in this ruin? You probably know how to deal with what may come for you, but what would happen to someone who's not one with the Force?"

Sensing your unease, Rey caresses your jaw gently, "I still feel that you have a stronger connection to the Force than you know. But…"

Rey paused as if to collect her thoughts, "But, if this is a place of the Dark Side, you are going to have to face the things that you fear. Bad memories, future possibilities that frighten you, aspects of your being that you try to push away."

Trying to parse what this might mean for you, you push for more, "And what then?"

Rey grimaced slightly before admitting, "Then it will either tempt you into the Dark Side to give you an easy path to take on or embrace your fears. Or…"

"Or what?"

"It will use those fears to destroy you."

You sigh hard, closing your eyes as a sinking feeling weighs on your heart. Rey's hands gently wrap around the back of your head and draws you into her chest, letting you feel the beat of her heart. Nuzzling the top of your head with her lips, she gently comforts you, "You have more strength than you realise, I believe you can do this. I'll be here with you through this."

Your voice is muffled in her bodily embrace as you rebut, "I thought I was meant to be here to help you through it?"

You feel Rey body shift against yours as she gives a short chuckle, "We'll be there for each other."

"Thank you," you murmur, letting yourself be held tighter by Rey, wrapping your own arms around her lower back, letting yourself drift off for a while.

An hour or so later, the Messenger drops back into realspace for the last time, and far smoother than previously.

"Yeah, yeah," you cut off Rey before she can comment and she laughs at you before looking over your shoulder, through the viewport to your destination.

As she climbs out of your seat, you spin your pilot seat forward and take in the view of Ariktan. The icy white arctic moon hangs in the stars before you, with its gas giant parent behind it glowing an angry purple hue. You are not sure if that was your own imagination colouring that impression, but in the context of the mission, it is hard not to. Behind you, Rey sits at the navigator seat, tapping at the keys and controls to confirm the location.

"I've got it, the coordinates I have put the ruin on the...night side I guess?" Rey read aloud, before wincing, "Looks like it'll be around minus twenty degrees C."

You shrug, "It could be a lot worse. We've got good thermal gear with us."

Rey huffs at you, "Says the ice worlder. I'm sending the coordinates to your console."

The information blinks onto your screen and you nod, firing up the sublight engines and bringing the Messenger into the moon's atmosphere. After the initial inferno of reentry, the moon's frozen nature becomes apparent, snow and hail lashing furiously against the ship's hull and wind howling beyond the metal. Rey follows your lead by strapping into her seat as the pair of you are shaken about by the fierce climate.

A few minutes later, you fly into the area of the moon not lit by the system's sun and are now basked in the reflected light of the gas giant, plunging you into a dark purple light. It feels surreal and dreamlike, the arctic howling of the sky being the reminder of your waking state. Soon enough, a black pyramid looms above the snow dusted forest, you do not need to check the coordinates on your console to know that you have reached the destination, that sinking feeling tells you it has happened.

Trying to shake the feeling of doom, you focus on practical matters, "Rey, can you help me find a good place to set down? Somewhere sheltered."

Rey gets up to stand beside you, resting a comforting hand on your shoulder. The pair of you look with narrowed eyes through the lashing storm as you lazily hover the Messenger around the ruin. Eventually a depression in the forest made itself known and you carefully land the Messenger upon the frozen ground, the trees shielding it somewhat from the winds while the two of you suit up for the outside.

With your power heated thermal suits on, and expedition equipment strapped to your suit, you check each other over.

"Hey, why are you turning down my heating circuits?!" Rey ask you horrified.

Batting her hand away from the controls, you patiently explain, "You want to conserve the power cells, no idea how long we'll be out in the cold. Keeping it down to this setting will keep the worst of the cold out, but it'll still be a tad biting."

Rey looks at you sceptically before fixing her goggles over her eyes, "If you say so…"

Smiling to yourself, you do the same, "Come on, let's go."

The howling of the wind is almost deafening as you open the hatch on the ship, snow forcing its way into the ship's hold before you close it behind the two of you. The supposed entrance of the ruin was only a few hundred metres away, but the knee deep snow along with the wind makes it slow going. Fortunately, your weather gear keeps your bodies from suffering too much.

Soon, the two of you are standing before a sealed archway, the obsidian black stonework carved with what look like dull red runes, though with the light of the gas giant colouring everything in nearly magenta tones, it is hard to be sure. You key the comms in your hood to connect to Rey, the wind far too loud to let normal speech be heard, "Any idea what we need to do here?"

"I think I know what I need to do," Rey's voice is oddly static-laden as she replies to you, reaching out with a heavily gloved hand.

You feel a tension in your chest as Rey taps into the Force while she metaphysically reaches into the stonework too. Slowly, a rumble shakes the area around you, with snow falling from the obsidian wall in sheets. Rey shakes on the spot and you can hear over the comms her grunting in exertion. Carefully, you pick your way through the snow to her side and place a hand on her shoulder.

"You can do this, I know you can," you try to encourage her.

Nodding in acknowledgement, Rey accepts your support and you feel her put more of herself into the movement. Slowly with a deep bassy grinding, the stone within the archway almost seems to spiral open like an iris, revealing the darkness within. Carefully, you both walk through the threshold, activating the shoulder mounted torches so you can see where you step.

Now inside the ruin, Rey releases her hold on the entrance way and the stonework sealed itself again. Within the temple, there is an unsettling warmth to the air, making your jackets unnecessary. However, you feel a cold in your soul that makes you miss the storms outside.

Looking down the single corridor, Rey glumly noted, "Here goes nothing."


	9. Reflections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Rey face the challenges and lessons of the Sith Temple.

You were not sure what the eeriest part of your initial realisations about the Sith temple were; the fact that you would not at all be aware of the hellish cold storm outside if you hadn't just arrived through it, or the way the stonework inside the temple swallowed the light from your torches. Both were soon outweighed by the fact that the torches were somehow unnecessary, as the pair of you began to delve deeper into the temple, you realised that somehow everything was somehow illuminated by the air itself, no visible single source of light existed. This gave a further unrealness to the environment, as it meant both of you barely cast a shadow in any direction.

The walls themselves were festooned with columns and rows beyond count of evil looking Sith runes, you didn't understand their meaning and you found yourself grateful of that fact. You see Rey's gaze drift across the walls while you walked down the first corridor, muttering to herself as her eyes darted from rune to rune. Lazily, her hand ran across the stonework and you were almost certain that some of the individual runes seemed to glow in response to her touch. You gently reach for her other hand, carefully curling your fingers around hers, as to not shock her out of a potential trance.

You gently ask her, "Are you okay, Rey?"

It takes a few more moments than you are comfortable for her to respond, "Yes…yes I'm okay, love…"

"Are you able to read them?" You push for more, unsure you want the actual answer.

Rey shrugs slightly, "Not really, though I can…hear them trying to talk to me."

The shiver in your soul deepens with those words, "Are you listening to what they're trying to tell you?"

She shakes her head, "They're not worth listening to right now."

There was something not entirely comforting about that statement but you can't put words to it. The two of you continue down the corridor, no words uttered for a while. Eventually you come upon a chamber after turning around a corner and you find yourself at a loss for even more words. Seemingly beyond the scope of what the structure outside would allow, the ceiling vaulted above you, its limits almost disappearing beyond sight. Standing at each corner of the square chamber, immense statues of hooded figures loomed menacingly and at the centre stood a suspiciously blank obelisk.

You look up at the figures staring blankly down at you, wondering aloud, "I wonder who these guys were?"

Rey stared up at them with a somewhat aggressive posture, "No idea in all honesty. Most likely Sith masters, so not good people in any case."

"So I'm guessing we're not here for a history lesson," you remark somewhat sarcastically. 

Raising her eyebrows in agreement, Rey shrugged, "Definitely not."

Having taken the initial measure of the space, the two of you enter the chamber proper approaching the only feature in the room, the silent monolith that stood in the middle. The chamber echoes horrendously with the sound of your boots on the bare stonework, raising the hairs on the back of your neck from the tension. Reaching the monolith, you can see in the shimmering surface of the black, marble like surface a visage of two cloaked people staring back at you. It takes you a moment to realise that the images weren't entirely static, seeming to partially move in response to your own movements, each paired with one of you. 

Scratching your chin, you look over to Rey, "Ummm, are you getting a feeling about these… reflections?"

"Definitely a suspicion," Rey seemed to ponder in agreement, "I know the Sith placed a great focus on the whole master/ apprentice dynamic. Succession and that kind of thing."

You have a thought and say to Rey, "I'm going to have a look around the other side, see what it does."

She looks over to you sceptically, "Okay… be careful, love."

Slowly, keeping your gaze focused on your 'reflections', you slowly pace a steady circle around the monolith. The images within the monolith seemed to drift to follow you, not taking steps however, rather they drift after you like silent spectres. About a third circle around the monolith, you pause so you do not lose sight of Rey.

"Are the… reflections there with you?" Rey calls to you. 

"Yeah, both of them, do you have them with you too?" You find your hand drifting to touch the monolith, the stonework slightly warm to the touch. Your counterpart seems to reach out to you.

You can partially see Rey's brow furrow as she studies the monolith from her side, "Yeah, I have both of them here too… wait… get away from it!"

Your eyes dart over to Rey, her face alight and eyes wide with alarm. As she steps away from the monolith, she looks back to you. Your gaze snaps back to the monolith and you see your 'reflection' has disappeared. A sensation of sinking, crushing pressure envelops your feet and you looking down to see the ground shift and bubble beneath you, no longer the solid consistency of stone.

You cry out to Rey, reaching out desperately to her or any potential handhold, "Rey!"

"No!" Rey screams out in turn, bolting over to you. 

Before she can reach you though, the ground swallows you up, sealing off any sensation of sight and sound. In a few moments, the feeling of crushing pressure ceases, replaced by a sense of vertigo and falling through a void. You scream into the black void beyond breathe is driven from your lungs as you hit a solid stone slope. Your body is bludgeoned as you roll and tumble down the slope, grunting and yelling with each bounce. Eventually you slam onto a flat floor, finally coming to a rest. It takes you more than a few moments to summon the effort to actually get up from your prone position.

Probably futilely, you call out, "Rey? Are you there?"

Your call echoes over and over again into the void and it is only then you try to take in your new environment. In a chamber seemingly without walls or a ceiling, the floor stretches into the dark, entirely bare save for what seems like infinite mirrors facing all angles. You find yourself surrounded by reflections of you looking battered and lost. You turn around again and again trying to make sense of the space you find yourself in.

You fumble for your hand-comm, keying the transmit button, "Rey? Rey, can you hear me?"

The only response you get is static echoing in the room. Aimlessly, you start to wonder around the room, hoping to find some kind of exit. Turning corner after corner, you find yourself growing panicked and frustration with no solution in sight. Occasionally you call out Rey's name, hoping your voice can somehow be heard. Suddenly your eye catches something. 

"Rey!" You hopefully call out, taking a step towards the image before stopping in realisation. 

It was her face you saw in the distance, but it was not truly her. Her visage hovered within a hooded figure, her smile somehow crueller and something in her eyes that unsettled you even from this distance, though why you do not know. There is a cold, sinking feeling in your belly and heart as she looks at you. Instinctively, you turn away and try to walk away, but you begin to see more of these dark, false Reys scattered around the chamber. More and more of your reflections, which faced all directions, are replaced by these hunting images, all facing you, growing closer and closer to you. Your heartbeat grows faster and faster, beating hard in your head as your panic grows. Turning around, circle after circle, your breathe becomes erratic and laboured as the distance between you and these threats grew closer.

With one final turn, you find yourself almost face to face to one of these Dark Reys and you can finally see her eyes. No longer the warm, hazel eyes you have come to know, now instead replaced with cold, golden irises circled in red. The will to protect yourself finally kicks in, your hand whipping out your blaster from its holster and you aim it squarely at 'her' face. The smile on her face stretched even wider, subtly showing predatory sharp teeth and a single hand revealed itself from the folds of her robes. Before you are able to pull the trigger, your firing hand obeys the dismissive waving gesture of her hand, dropping the blaster from your grip.

Your mind screams over and over again to run, but your feet are rooted to the ground as she hovers closer. Her hand reaches out for your frozen, outstretched hand, her fingers curl around your wrist with a crushing strength, causing you to wince. You try to swing your free hand at her in a closed fist, but another hand shoots out from her robes to catch your fist in an equally painful grip.

Tears begin to run down your face in pain and fear, "No, no, no…"

You uselessly twist in her grip as you suddenly see more hands snake from within that voluminous robe. Fingers wrap viciously around your collar, your belt and then at your legs and sides, nails digging in deep. Her face begins to loom high over you and with inhuman force, you are dragged within the void of the creature's robes and you are enveloped entirely. All you can see is that face above you looking down hungrily, and you let out a soul rending scream of terror as its maw widen before diving upon you.

You wake with a start, soaked in sweat and your mind a confused mess of screaming memories. An arm is curled around your shoulders and when your eyes focus on Rey's face, that memory of that mouth filled with teeth comes rushing back, making you recoil in fear.

Looking down at you in confusion, Rey tries to comfort you, "Hey, hey, it's okay, it's me! It's me, sweetheart!"

The state you fix her with must have been unsettling, as she flinched a little from it as you searched for any sign of gold or red in her eyes. Your body is rigid and breathing hard and fast from panic before you soften in the grip of her arm. Slowly, you reach for her hand behind your shoulder to try and give an apologetic squeeze. 

"I-I'm sorry," you pant, "It's just...I saw...the wrong you…"

Rey gave you a quizzical look, "The wrong me?"

"Something pretending to be you...I think. How long was I down here?"

Rey shifted uncomfortably on her haunches, giving you an uncertain look, "I honestly have no idea. At least a couple of hours, I lost some time to visions… No, visions would be wrong, experiences would be closer, I think."

"What kind of experiences do you mean?"

"It'll take me some time to unpack what happened in it," Rey admitted, "I don't think it's just you seeing the wrong me. A Sith reflection of me trying to tempt me over. Is that what she tried to do with you?"

Your brow furrows in thought, "I'm not sure if that's how I'd interpret what she tried to do…"

Rey stood up, helping you get to your feet too, "Come on, let's see if we can get out of here quicker…"

The maze of mirrors now seems to have disappeared since your last bout of consciousness, now silhouettes of doorways around you in the distance, spaced about like a compass. As you look around, they all seem identical to you. 

"Which way do we go?"

Rey shrugged sheepishly, "I'm not entirely sure, I just know the way I came isn't the way to go."

"Ummm," you ponder aloud and point at a random entrance way, "How about that one?"

"... that was the one I came through."

You blush in embarrassment, "I'll let you pick then…"

After spending a few moments with her eyes closed in a trance like state, Rey eventually picked a doorway to go through, which you followed her through apprehensively. Truth be told, you find yourself truly shaken by what you went through in that mirror chamber, it had a taste of the nightmares you had experienced while healing from the blaster rounds. If these experiences were similar at all to the visions Rey endured herself, there may have something to her suspicion and fear that some aspect of her inner turmoil resided within you. Or did you have your own fears buried within you that needed to face? You can suspected that answering these kind of questions was half the purpose of these journeys Rey underwent. 

The pair of you continued to traverse corridor after corridor, interspersed with minor chambers decorated with murals that made your skin crawl as Rey studied them, hoping some kind of insight. You made sure to stand well back from any relics from now on. Tension slowly built up in your stomach as time went on and you could feel yourself grow more agitated, a sweat slowly building up on your forehead, while finding yourself flexing your hand absentmindedly.

As she turned away from one particularly abstract mural, Rey supportively gave your arm a squeeze, "How are you holding up?"

You sigh quietly, seeing no point in trying to hide your discomfort, "Not well, honestly. I know I came here to support you, but I feel like you're faring better here than I am."

Rey took a step closer and leaned her head against yours, "You're doing well, trust me. And having you here is helping me stay anchored."

When Rey began to move onto the next corridor, you cannot help but think her anchor needed a bit more securing.

Time continued to move on at a painfully slow pace, you felt like the temple was trying to sear every detail of itself into your memory, whether you wanted it to or not. A sense of finality takes a hold of you as you both enter another much larger chamber, with the same sense of boundless dimensions that the obelisk room and the mirror chamber possessed. Hanging with immense silence from an invisible spot in the void above was a needle like column that terminated with a point about head height above a wide dais.

Hovering between that needle point and the dais hovered a slowly rotating object, and looking upon it drained the last shreds of warmth left in you. An obvious cousin in form to the Jedi holicron that Rey had shown you before, this relic was instead a four sided pyramid like shape, with silver/pewter like metal framing a ruby like crystal that glowed angrily with an internal light.

Standing nervously to the side of Rey, you whisper, "Is...is that a Sith holicron?"

Rey simply nodded.

"Do we actually want that? I know we're trying to figure things out about the Dark Side, but this feels very much...letting the propaganda speak for itself," you whisper cautiously.

Rey seems to mull this over, before turning to face you and giving you a stroke on the cheek, "I think it might be worth it."

She then drew out the Jedi holicron from her bag and holding it up between the two of you, "Besides, having this may help...keep things balanced."

You look back at her sceptically, but eventually shrug, "I've said what my gut is feeling, but this is your area."

Rey smiled at you, "I appreciate you being open about that though, being cautious is wise in this circumstance. Sometimes, we need to take risks regardless."

You nod, "Okay, just be careful."

"I will," a quick peck on your cheek and she slowly walks over to the Sith holicron, Jedi holicron still in hand.

You remain firmly stood where you were, the memory of sinking into the ground far too fresh in your memory and on your skin for you to wish risking moving closer. The air seems to electrify akin to the static in the air before lightning strikes as the two Force relics grow closer to each other. A low hum begins to ring inside the chamber growing louder, and the red light from the Sith holicron grows stronger, framing Rey's silhouette. She reaches out with the Jedi holicron and touches it to the Sith holicron. And then.

Nothing.

Everything stops. You look around, almost expecting the temple to begin collapsing around you, but there is silence. Absolute stillness. Even the dust motes in the air appear to have frozen mid drift. As you turn back to Rey to comment on it, you realise she is frozen in place too and you run over to her, seeing what you can do. Frozen like a paused recording, her eyes are locked on the two holicrons now barely touching, not even breathing. Your mind races in confusion when you suddenly hear her voice behind you.

"Well, aren't we such a pretty thing. I can see why you fell for us."

No, not her voice. The sounds were hers, but not what was behind it. You turn and see that Sith mockery of her sitting on the edge of the dais, those golden eyes looking Rey up and down. You look back at it angrily.

"Let her go," your voice seething.

It smiles that vicious smile, "Oh, we're not doing that, she did that herself. Always so eager to jump into seeing what the Dark Side has to offer. It's why she's us, we are her and she always become us."

"No," you flatly state, refusing to accept what you're hearing, "She won't fall to the Dark Side. She's too good for that, and I won't let her fall."

All that gets from it is a harsh barking laugh, showing off the full bestial teeth in that copy of Rey's face, "You?! You are nothing but her pet!"

With a flick of its wrist, you find yourself shoved to your knees and slowly dragged over in front of it, knees scraping roughly on the stone. Every ounce of your will screams to try and get you to move, but your body is no longer listening. Within an arm's reach of the creature, its claw like fingers curl around the back of your head, holding you like you are a hand puppet. Cruelly, it forces your head to look at your Rey, eliciting a cry of pain from you with the motion.

She stands there as before, but not quite. Instead of her usual white garb, she is robed like the Sith abomination holding you now, her face a rictus on anger, wielding a sabre of red. You see images of her striding through innocent, undefended people, cutting them down without a second's thought or notice. World after world falling before her, flanked by legions of stormtroopers, skies screaming with TIEs, a galaxy overrun with looming Star Destroyers.

The creature pulls you back to face it, the gold eyes still there, but Rey's mouth has returned though the words are spoken just as cruel, "She has seen this future, and so now have you. It will come to pass, as you will be there at her feet, your every action her bidding."

You snarl back at the creature taunting you, "No! I won't let her, I'll remind her about what she truly knows and believes in!"

The creature's other hand lances into your scarred chest, laughing as the twist of its claws digs into your wound make you scream out in pain, "You are far too weak to have any influence! You are a puppet with the most simplest of strings to pull and she already has you tied up by them without even knowing or trying!"

Pulling you close to its face, it licked your face slowly, making your skin crawl, "You belong to the Dark Side, just as she does."

You hear a roar of defiance over your screams of pain and the creature's laughter, and a blade of bright blue flashes above you, the creature disappearing into shadow. You fall onto the ground heavily, feeling your chest grow hot and wet where blood has begun to seep through your shirt. The look of fury on Rey's face is instantly replaced with panic and concern as she fusses over you.

Through gritted teeth, you implore to Rey, "Karabast! It hurts!"

"No, no, no! I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have brought you here!" Rey apologised, tears rolling down her cheeks. 

You shake your head furiously, trying to blank out from pain, "This isn't on you, it's this place! It should have been lost to history…"

Rey held you close, nodding slowly, "You're right. Let's get out of here!"

You look over to the still hovering Sith holicron, "Are we bringing-...?"

"No," Rey said bluntly, "Nothing it has to say is worth the price."

As she helped you up, you slowly mumble, "Think I agree with you there."

Slowly, the two of you make your way through a doorway on the opposite side of the chamber, Rey supporting you as you shuffle along. You feel like you can feel the temple trying to pull at you, whispered words unintelligibly flitting in your ears and mind. Rey stares ahead resolutely, as if she is pointedly ignoring something.

"Can you hear it too?"

"Don't listen to it, love," she cautions you, "It has nothing to offer you."

Defying any kind of physical logic, you find yourself coming back into the entrance foyer via the same corridor you went into the temple with. Rey carefully dressed you back in your thermal jacket before leaning you against the wall in preparation to open the stonework archway to the frozen cold of the outside. You find the trip back to the Messenger almost unbearable, the cold quickly sapping your energy. Over your weak protests, Rey sets the heating circuits to maximum to protect you from the harsh environment.

You welcome the familiar hold of your ship as the hatch closes behind you, Rey carefully seating you down in the navigator seat. You wince a little as she opens your blood stained shirt to finally inspect the fresh wound. The look of sadness intensifies on Rey's face as she looks on your injury. You weakly point to one of the storage compartments. 

"There's a med-kit...in there," you try to tell Rey.

Rey seems to contemplate something, flexing a hand, "I want to try something."

She gently places her hand on your wounded chest, trying to carefully place it over the wound, though you still wince as her fingertips make contact. You feel an energy start to charge the ship, radiating from Rey and slowly fill you. You hiss again in pain as the pain in the gash intensifies for a second before completely subsiding. Looking down, you swear you see your flesh begin to knit itself close as Rey concentrates on you, sweating from the focus. A few moments pass before you are seemingly healed completely.

"There," Rey finally says, panting to herself, "We'll probably need the doctor to check you over though."

Running your fingers over the freshly healed skin, you look up to her, "I think we're good…"

Rey smiled slightly, "Are you ready to go?"

"We can't leave soon enough," you chuckle weakly, pausing before adding, "Can you fly us home?"

Rey nods, "Of course, sweetheart. If you need to sleep, I understand."

Kissing her before she moves to the pilot seat, you chuckle, "What was that we were saying about you handling everything?"

Rey smiles to herself as she begins the flight home away from that hellhole of a moon.


	10. Introspection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After surviving the trial of the Sith Temple, you begin to unpack what the ordeal meant to you.

In the few days it takes to fly back to the Resistance flagship, you indeed sleep a lot, but it is not a restful sleep. Sometimes you wake up in a panicked state, your body doused in sweat from already fading nightmares while Rey is fussing over you as you come to consciousness. Other times, you stir slowly as if slowly coming to from a spice induced haze. It is generally these instances you catch a glimpse of Rey in a state of deep worried thought, with her either staring out into the infinite skies outside the viewport or staring at you with a mix of guilt and worry across her face. That face is generally gone the instant she realises she is being watched. 

After the fourth time she tries to hide it, you finally try to interrogate her about it, "I may not be as strong as you with the Force, but I don't need it to tell me you're hiding something. What's wrong, Rey?"

"It's just that…" she pauses, her gaze turned down while fidgeting with her fingernails, "You're a lot more affected by what we went through in there than I was expecting… no, that sounds terrible. Sounds like I was planning on you being hurt…"

"I understand what you meant," you comfort Rey, trying to keep her on topic.

Rey gathers her thoughts for a moment before continuing, "I didn't expect the Dark Side to come for you the way it did… maybe some minor hallucination or illusion. Not… this…"

Her hand awkwardly strokes over your chest, your shirt still stained with your blood. Slowly, Rey's eyes drifted from your chest and up into your eyes. 

"But…," she hesitated, as if worried about the impact of her words, "Do you see what I mean? Do you accept that you are stronger with the Force than you realise?"

You purse your lips and nod begrudgingly, closing your eyes tight in frustration, "I didn't ask for this. I'm not ready for this on top of everything else…"

Rey's hands gently closer around yours, "None of us ask for this, but it's up to us to decide what to do with these abilities…"

You open your eyes to grant Rey an expression of resignation, "I'm guessing giving up these abilities isn't an option?"

Rey gives you a small smile, "I'm afraid not, love… Can I ask what it is you saw? I didn't get that good a look at what was holding you..."

Reflexively at the mention of the apparition, you draw your hands out from underneath hers, leaving Rey with that worried expression you've become familiar with.

"Sorry," you mutter guiltily, "It's just that… that thing was...you."

Rey's expression takes on a startled expression as you raise your hands in a placating fashion, "Obviously not *you* you, but… maybe what we fear you could become if the Dark Side won you over."

Rey takes your hands softly in her own, "I understand what it is you fear, I'm fighting with it every day. And with your help, I can."

You look away, your tone suddenly sour and your breathe short, "Like I can do anything to help."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

You get out of the navigator's seat and pace into the Messenger's hold as your voice begins to crack, "How am I supposed to be of any help to you, Rey?! I needed to be saved from the… vision of a darker you by you! What happens if you turned for real? I...I can't do anything to stop it from..."

Your words are choked off by the beginnings of a sobbing fit, your hands rubbing these fresh tears from your eyes. Turned away in shame as you are, you are not aware of Rey's approach until her arms slowly wrap around you in a hug, her fingers entwined with yours. You still find yourself trying to turn away as she rests her head on your shoulder.

"Love," her words spoken in a gentle, soft manner, "Those visions… experiences are formed by the Dark Side to prey on our worst thoughts. Made to seem inevitable, so that it can tempt us to the solution that it wants us to take…"

Now placing her hands on your shoulders, Rey turns you slowly to face her, delicately wiping your tears from your cheek, "It may come to pass that we need to face the worst, but we can prepare, okay?"

Eventually, you nod in the affirmative, though how well you believe it is a different question. With a familiar, slight shudder, the Messenger drops out of hyperspace for the final time of the trip, showing you the sight of the flagship hanging in space in orbit of the most recent planet for the Resistance to base itself from.

Rey gives you a gentle squeeze on your arms, "I'll land us?"

"Thanks," you reply quietly and hoarsely, your voice not quite ready for a proper conversation.

You sit back in the navigator's chair as Rey takes the pilot position. Your attention is barely focused on the landing procedure as Rey smoothly takes the ship back in, calmly giving the required responses to the security challenge over the comms. You only fully come back to the present when the ship makes contact on the hangar deck, the landing gear groaning a little with impact.

As Rey looks over her shoulder at you, you can't help but give her a weak smirk as you tease her, "Your landings could do with work…"

She rolls her eyes good naturally as she got up, "Come on, I still want you to get checked out by the medics…"

The pair of you disembarked without incident and made your way to the ship's medical bay. Just add you crossed the threshold, you heard Poe Dameron's voice call out to Rey. You give her an unsure glance, but she pushes you in.

"I'll speak with him."

Uncertainly, you continue in, sparing a look over your shoulder as Poe closed the gap between himself and Rey.

"What the hell happened? They're barely back on their feet and you've got them back in sick bay alre-...?!" Poe's indignant voice was cut off as the doors to sick bay closed.

Doctor Asnari intercepted you, taking you over to one of the empty beds, her scarlet features already a grimace of worry as she saw your bloodstained shirt, "What happened?"

Getting up onto the bed and undoing your shirt to reveal the healed injury, you find it hard to put the entire situation into words in a brief summary, "It's kinda hard to explain, Doc. But honestly, it's not as bad as it looks."

The doctor harrumphed, bringing a scanner to bear over your chest, "I'll be the judge of that, thank you."

A few moments passed as she traced her scanner around the site of the wound, her grimace of worry was replaced by one of confusion. Ansari made a few repeats of this process before letting the scanner fall to the side. 

"I don't understand it… there's the signs that your chest was punctured, but somehow it's healed up already, seemingly with minimal scar tissue or any traces of bacta," she now looks up at you, "Even without the whole lack of scar tissue, there's no way you could have naturally healed all that up in the few days you were away. For it to be healed now…"

All you can do is shrug, "The Force works in mysterious ways…"

Asnari harrumphed again, "Maybe if the Force could focus more on this kind of healing instead of getting people to be spinning laser swords all over the place, people would have a better impression of it."

"Could see check for any infections though? Stuff like that?"

The doctor raises her brow at you, "If this is an attempt to make me feel useful…"

Over the next few minutes, you are given more examinations by Asnari. Fortunately there is no sign of any infections from the now healed wound and the rest of the check up revealed no shocks. Unsurprisingly, there are the signs of recently endured extreme stress based on your brain chemistry, which displeases Asnari.

"I'd say you should take extended leave and be seen by a therapist, but that applies to nearly everyone around here and then no one's left to fight the First Order…" Asnari comments dryly.

You chuckle, "Thanks again though, Doc. I'll try and tell the First Order to cut me a break."

Asnari waves you off, "You're free to go. Next time I see you best not be in here, okay?"

Departing sickbay, you find yourself unsure where to go next. Rey and Poe seem to have left earshot range and you weren't particularly hungry, so you decided that your quarters to change or showers to freshen up were good options. As you made your way over to the barracks decks, you felt a presence suddenly to your side. 

"Would you mind joining me, Lieutenant?" Leia's words were spoken in the confidence that the request would be understood to not be optional without being a threatening command.

You stammer a reply as best as you could, "Y-yes, sir, of course!"

The General wordlessly leads you to a small side room, bare except for a few chairs, crates and a viewport revealing a beautiful view of the planet below. With the deliberateness of advancing age, Leia Organa took a seat, waving to one of the others for you to do the same.

"I wanted us to have this conversation in private as you might feel the topic to be…," Leia chose her words with care, "Emotionally private."

In truth, Leia was probably the most intimidating person possible for you to discuss any such matters.

You cough slightly, "Ummm, thank you for the consideration, General… but what do you want to talk about…?"

"Rey briefed me and Poe about what happened in the temple...or at least what she could tell us," Leia's tone was mostly matter-of-fact up until that last part, "Poe may have thought he had heard everything that concerned the Resistance, but I know enough about the Force, and how to read Rey, to know there's more to it than what she said. Care to enlighten me?"

You shift awkwardly on the chair, realising how difficult it was to summarise the ordeal, even to someone like Leia with would have some understanding.

You sigh as you decide on what the main crux of it all is, "You were right, General. About this exacting a cost…"

Leia's gaze upon you takes on a knowing aspect, "I'm guessing you don't just mean the new wound you've managed to pick up and heal?"

You shake your head, "I had to come face-to-face with the realisation of a fear I didn't know I held within me. That...that…"

Leia waited patiently, "Go on…"

"That the love between me and Rey might not be enough to stop her from falling."

Leia nodded slowly, almost to herself, "That is an important lesson I'm glad you've taken on board. Love and the Force are a… tricky pairing. You've heard about how it was love for my brother Luke that turned my father… Darth Vader away from the Dark Side?"

Saying that name, even now after all this time, seemed to take some effort on Leia's part.

"Of course, everyone knows that story," you nod.

Leia tilted her head, a weariness settling over her, "What isn't widely known is that it was Darth Vader's love for my mother that was used to manipulate him. To make him fall. Love isn't the guarantee that will keep someone safe from the Dark Side. Like the Force itself, love has both aspects of light and darkness."

She rests her wizened hand on yours, evident there is still much warmth and strength residing in her, "Just be careful and don't put too much responsibility on your shoulders to be Rey's keeper. She is her own person and only she can be the one to choose her final path. All we can do is remind her of where she comes from, what she can be and what she means to us."

You close your eyes in your own expression of weariness, "I understand, I think."

"Just think about what we've talked about," Leia's tone was soft, before the mask of the General feel over her face again as she begins to stand, "You best get some rest, Poe has an operation he's putting together and you're on the team. Briefing is tomorrow."

"Understood, sir," you respond in kind as you also stand, taking the tone of dutiful subordinate, "Should I let Rey know as well?"

"Rey won't be on this mission," Leia corrects you.

You feel a slight sinking feeling in your stomach at how you perceive that statement, "You're not… like, splitting us up?"

Leia gives you a weak smile, "No, I need her for something else. But in light of recent circumstances, I don't think a little space would hurt, give your mind some room to think."

It was hard to argue the point, you shrug with some acceptance, "You're probably right, sir."

"Don't worry, you'll both be back together quick enough," Leia gives your arm a small reassuring pat before leaving the room.

You linger in the room for a few minutes, trying to unpack and contemplate Leia's words before leaving yourself, heading to the shower block. Your thoughts and emotions are an uncomfortable and confusing maelstrom in your mind and heart, there was no way you could untangle it all in a single evening. Some time passes before you eventually feel like the shower has helped you and you head back to your quarters wrapped up in one of the disposable towel robes, your old set of clothes bundled in your arms.

As the door opens to admit you, you see Rey inside, similarly swaddled in a gown, her hair still damp and skin glistening from her own recently taken shower. She gives you a soft and curious look as you dump your clothes to the side and walk over to her, before you embrace her in the closest manner you have shared with her yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Happy New Year to you all, I hope you enjoyed the holiday period for those of you who celebrate it!
> 
> I'm back at work now, so updates will be a little less regular than they were while I was off, but don't fret, they will continue!
> 
> I was contemplating a bit of a self indulgent smut scene to be the next chapter (as you may be able to tell from that ending!) but not entirely sure if it would be too big a departure from the tone of the rest of the fic, so I may post it as a separate work if I write it, or keep it in this work with a notes warning at the beginning of the chapter so those averse to such content know to skip. We shall see...


	11. Consummation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You offer yourself up to Rey, cementing a new aspect to your relationship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SMUT WARNING!
> 
> Making sure you don't miss this warning! :-p this chapter took longer to complete as beta readers were required for this particular chapter and I didn't want to rush putting this one out.

You could feel your heart begin to beat quicker as you made that final decision in your head that you would initiate this gesture. Heat began to flow through your body, while you felt your stomach flutter with anticipation and anxiety. 

"What is it, love?" Rey asked softly as you slowly approached her.

"Y'know…" you began, trying to sound confident despite your nervous mouth's impulse to stammer, "I've never properly thanked you for all you've done for me. Saving me all those times, nursing me back to health…"

As you were a handspan's distance from each other, you could feel Rey's warmth as she bit her lip, "It's-it's not something you need to say thank you for."

With a sheepish grin, you place your hands gently on her hips while looking into her eyes, "I wasn't thinking of *saying* thank you, per se…"

You curl your face around the side of hers and kiss her on the side of her neck, just below her ear, nibbling at her perfect skin slightly. Almost instinctively, her arms curl around you, one planting a hand on the small of your back to press you in, the other wrapping around the back of your neck so you would stay to keep kissing her neck. Even with just the thin gowns on, the heat already felt like a furnace and your fingers worked up between your bodies to open them up.

Rey suddenly released her hold on you, suddenly looking flustered, "I, ummm, look. This would be my first time, like this... I've not been with anybody before. I don't want to disappoint you…"

You give her an incredulous look, "Rey, it would be impossible for you to disappoint me. Everyone has their first time, I'll do anything I can for you to make this pleasurable for you…"

"I don't want you to feel pressured into doing anything for me," Rey continued to ramble on, "I'd only want it to be if you actual-...oh…"

She cut herself off as she saw you now fully disrobed in front of her, opening and shutting her mouth at a loss for words.

Feeling a confidence you didn't realise you could have with Rey, you took one of her hands and carefully placed it on your bare chest. Her free hand reached for your side, delicately running her fingers over your skin.

Your breathe shaky as you lick your lips from a sudden, perhaps imagined, dryness, you tell Rey, "I *want* you to have me, Rey. I *want* to be with you. All of me, all yours. No doubts."

Rey was left speechless by the gesture, eyes wide as she stood frozen. You began to feel self conscious when she reached out to place a hand on you, slowly tracing a finger along your collarbone then down the centre of your chest. Your skin ripples with goosebumps as the air cools your naked body and you feel Rey's eyes almost bore into you as her gaze slowly takes all of you in, you almost feel like a hunger is building up inside Rey. 

Rey's voice drops noticeably, "Come to me, love."  
OP  
That gaze and command draws you into her and you take the step to close the distance again, kissing her neck again, your fingers reaching between the two of you to ease open the front of her gown, revealing her bosom. Your lips work from her neck down across her collarbone before taking in one of her nipples, eliciting a gasp from Rey, who reflexively grabs you by the back of your head. She pushes your face into her skin as you lightly nibble and began to suck, your pleasured moans muffled within her at her taste. Your free hand takes her other breast and slowly massaged it, teasing the nipple with your finger tips. You can feel Rey's heart beat harder before she places her second hand on your back, making you arch involuntarily as she drags her nails up your spine and whine happily into her cleavage.

You look up into her face as she takes yours in her hands, asking her with shaky breathe, "Are you re-... do you want me to go lower?"

Rey bites her lip and nods, slowly sitting on the bed behind her. Taking the motion as permission, you know properly kneel on the floor in front of her. Tracing your nails along her legs, you begin to kiss the inside of her thighs and you can feel Rey shaking in a mix of nervousness and anticipation as you work your way further and further up. Soon you eventually reach her crotch, dark pubic hair surrounding her vulva. Rey gasps again as you kiss and lick her gently at first, but with increasing vigour, your tongue teasing its way inside her. You pause and pull back slightly as you see Rey flex a hand in and out of a fist, looking very unsure of something. 

"What's wrong?" you ask her.

"I just...I want it to be like, you to do...aagh!" Rey leaned back in frustration, "I don't have the words for it!"

Stroking her leg, you reached for her hand, pulling it towards you softly, "How about you guide me to what you want?"

Rey's lips pursed as she gave you an intense look, "Are you sure?"

You nod, placing her hand on your cheek, "Of course, love…"

Rey's fingers snaked around to grab you possessively by the back of your head and she pulled you in hard, firmly burying your face into her pussy. Almost as fast, she wrapped her thighs around the side of your head and crossed her calves over your back back, pinning you against the side of the bed. Her grip was so firm and sure, you knew that nothing you could do would be able to get you out Rey's grasp without her letting you. Even as the heat of her crotch spread over your face, your breathe almost smothered, you were perfectly happy for her to hold you as long as she wanted.

Despite the difficulty in drawing a clear breathe, you entirely devoted your attention to pleasuring Rey, licking and sucking on her hungrily. Your face was quickly becoming wet and hot as she ground her hips over your mouth, her moans deep with satisfaction. You took a supporting hold of her hips in your hands, easing her rising and falling while the taste of hat filled your mouth. As you continued to orally pleasure, Rey's grip on you slowly tightened and her grinding tempo quickened. Soon, the pressure began to overwhelm you and you moaned meekly into her as she began to buck wildly, before pushing you in a final time as she orgasmed. With your mouth forced open, all you could do was swallow up her climax as she filled your mouth.

The near death grip around your head was finally released and you nearly slumped onto your back, weakly propping yourself up on one arm as you gasped in the fresh air. Almost as if you weren't there if it wasn't for her calves still draped over your shoulders, Rey leaned back on the bed with a satisfied moan and lazily closed eyes, running her hands over her body. In your partially dazed state, you couldn't help but gaze up her body as it seemed to loom above you. Just where it felt right to be. So out of it, it took you a moment to realise that Rey was staring back down at you, a wide and warm smile matched oddly with mischievous and hungry. She sat up and then leaned forward, tipping your chin up with her finger to raise your lips to hers for a lingering kiss.

"Thank you, love, I don't think I could have asked for better," her voice wrapped around your mind like honeyed syrup.

You try to speak to accept her thanks, but she silences you with a finger across your lips, "Allow me to repay you…"

With a smooth fluidity of motion, Rey was on her feet and pulling you up on yours with apparently little effort. You were spun around her and laid down along the length of the bed, suddenly feeling oddly exposed as if Rey was looking across your body before her as if inspecting you. She slowly wondered down to the foot of the bed, lightly tracing her fingers down your chest and then belly before clambering onto the end of the bed. She almost looked like a crouching predator ready to launch herself at you. 

With careful deliberation, she lowers her body over your legs and her mouth to your crotch. You shiver involuntarily as you feel her tongue trace its way around your sensitive flesh, your legs shaking under her. You can almost feel her smile to herself from your failed attempts to suppress a squeal while the wet tip of her tongue explores you, before her lips open to envelop you. Rey licks and sucks on you hungrily, leaving no inch of the region between your legs untouched, making you pant hard and gripping the sheets of the bed tightly as you squirm. Every tilt of her head seems to lead her discovering new nerves for you to respond to her attentions.

Soon enough though, Rey finds the angle and motions that elicit the strongest response from and mercilessly focuses her energy to stimulating you with her mouth, coiling one of her arms around your leg to hold you to her. Pleasure overwhelms your senses and you are left with little in the way of rational thought, a sensual puppet being played expertly by Rey as if she had made you herself. Rey's moans resonate up and through your body, almost merging, even overriding your own moans and gasps, which you can no longer contain, Rey has stripped you off any self-control or attempts at modesty at this point. Your back begins to arch up and down reflexively before you feel your chest pinned down to the bed hard by Rey, intent on keeping you where she wants.

It is not long before Rey has brought you to your climax as well, perhaps even quicker than you did for her. She loudly sleeps and swallows you up, a part of your mind somehow being reminded of how ravenously you have seen Rey devour her meals, and the thought somehow brings you an extra sliver of aroused release to your orgasm. You are left lying limply on the bed as Rey licks up the rest of you up, your chest rising and falling hard as coherency slowly returns to your mind. Rey slowly untangles her arm from your leg and crawls up you, gently kissing up your body before drawing level with your face. Her now loose hair falls around your face, framing both of your faces to each other.

Licking your lips, you find your voice is now incredibly shaky, "Y-you sure that was your first time?"

You can feel her chuckle in your chest as she is pressed down upon you, "I like to think I can read your body well enough…"

Her hips lay snugly down on yours and her legs coil around yours, a hand slowly sliding between the pair of you to between your legs, the tips leaving a tingle that felt strange and yet familiar.

"Hey! You-..., " you gasp in recognition as you feel your body being made ready for Rey again within moments, "U-using the Force is ch-cheating!"

She chuckled as she toyed with your body, "Somehow, I don't think you're going to mind…"

"I-I guess I-...." your words are cut off as you can already feel sensual waves pulse through you body.

Your first gasp gives Rey ample opportunity to lock her lips with yours in a deep, messy kiss while she works you over, letting you taste yourself on her tongue. Your hand joins hers between you, reaching into her to return the gesture. Again and again, you bring each other to orgasm, but it is very clear that Rey is taking charge of this embrace, your climaxes coming far more often. By the time she finally lets up, you are utterly spent to a degree you didn't realise was possible. You utterly melt into her as she wraps herself around you for the final embrace as you both finally lie down to sleep.


	12. Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the quiet before battle, you take the opportunity to try and heal some brewing rifts with Poe.

The mission briefing was pretty simple, worryingly so for those of you who were more experienced in this fight. There was a First Order transport to be dropping off supplies to a new communications hub on a backwater forest planet called Vinin, among its cargo were transmission decrypters and other valuable equipment that the Resistance could use to gain vital intelligence and up-to-date information on First Order movements. The plan was for a small strike force of fighters and the Messenger to hide on the planet before the transport arrived to ambush it, hopefully disabling its own communications with Y-wing ion cannon fire, and steal its cargo, destroying it on the way out.

The intel you had showed there were weaknesses in the sensor grid of the communications hub that would allow smaller ships like yours and snub fighters to sneak through, but larger ships even of the Falcon size would draw attention. It would be down to the Messenger to deliver the strike team onto the First Order ship, so you were along for the mission. It was the evening before the transport was due to arrive, so the strike force was encamped a quarter turn around the planet's surface from the hub, hidden in a valley among the trees. You would all be close enough that you would be able to quickly strike the transport when it arrived, but far away enough to avoid most scans.

After having spent weeks aboard the flagship, it was an unusual change of scenery to be part of a natural environment, the sounds of birds and animals echoing throughout the valley along with the groaning of swaying trees in the breeze. It was a calming landscape that you stared out into from one campfires set up for the evening meal, the last beams of sunlight disappearing behind the ridge line. Your attention to your surroundings almost fades completely when the sound of footsteps upon fallen leaves and snapping branches approach you from the campsite.

"Here," Poe offers a mess tin of hot food, steam still rising from the food, "I haven't seen you eating too much. Gotta keep your strength up, Lieutenant."

"I hadn't realised, thank you, sir," you hug yourself self consciously, before reaching to take the offered food.

The two of you stare off into the horizon again, you slowly eating from the mess tin, while Poe braced one of his legs up against a nearby rock, seemingly lost in thought.

A few minutes passed without any real movement, before Poe looked over his shoulder at you, eyebrow raised, "How you feeling about tomorrow? All set?"

You ponder the question a moment before answering, "As ready as I'll ever be. I mean, do you always feel ready before each mission, sir?"

Poe chuckles dryly to himself, "I used to be. These days, I get the feeling less and less."

"We can do it, sir," you feel a hint of bravado enter your voice, feeling the need to bolster your leader, "We've won with a lot worse odds before."

Poe smirks and waves tough down, "Alright, alright, hero, no need to act the holo-novel character for me. Still it's good to have you back in the real fight."

That particular phrasing made your ears prick up, your brow furrowing as you looked to your leader, "The 'real' fight, sir?"

Poe seemed to restrain the urge to roll his eyes, for decorum's sake, but you could tell he regretted his word choice already, his hand raised defensively and for emphasis, "It's...it's just bad enough we don't have Rey to help us on missions like this, like fighting with one hand tied behind our back, without losing extra people to these…side quests, these distractions."

There it was, the topic that Poe was so sensitive about. He was a phenomenal pilot and a great leader, but his scepticism about the Force and the part it had to play in the battles between the Light and the Dark had put him at odds with Rey more than a few times.

You bit your lip as you considered your words, it would be unsurprising to a lot of people these days in the Resistance that you would take Rey's side, and yet Poe was also your commanding officer, putting you in an awkward place. Turning to face him properly out of respect, you kept the mess tin in your hands to avoid looking confrontational.

"Sir...I, um, I get that it's frustrating that Rey needs to do Jedi training alongside fighting alongside us," you begin, "But it's just as important as missions like this. I mean, not knowing how to deal with the Sith is how the Jedi fell before the rise of the Empire back all that time ago. It's like the Force is a whole different front to this war."

Poe fixed you with a steady, contemplative gaze, considering your words. He didn't seem to flare up at your viewpoint, which you were glad for, but he didn't seem to be backing down either.

"Hmmmph," he grunted in some degree of acknowledgement, "I guess, I just can't have her taking everyone on these Force vision quests or whatever they are…"

You shrug, "It's only me she's been taking-..."

You were interrupted when Finn and Martanis, the lead Y-wing pilot, came up, datapad in hand. Poe looked to them, the mask of the fearless, cocksure leader back in place. You partially turned to face them, hoping your face betrayed none of the mixed feelings about the current conversation.

Martanis handed over the datapad casually, "All the fighters are ready to go whenever you give the word, sir."

Poe accepted the datapad with a nod, scanning over the preparation checklists before handing it back, "Alright, looks like we're all good to fly in the morning. Make sure you and the rest of the fly jockeys get some sleep in."

"Sir," Martanis took the datapad back with their own nod and headed back into the camp.

Poe was already looking to Finn, who was standing patiently with hands on his hips, blaster carbine slung casually to the side.

"We've got all the gear unpacked and ready to go crack that transport, Poe," Finn's confidence was as easy as his posture, almost a mirror to Poe's aura of bravado.

"I know you've got it, pal," Poe gave Finn a winning smirk with raised eyebrow, "Same goes to you too, Finn. Get some sleep. Big day tomorrow."

"Don't need to tell me twice, I'll let Rose and the others know," Finn nodded with his own wry smile, before turning to you, "Glad to have you back, you and Rey both."

And with that, Finn headed back to his part of the camp. You can't help but notice the way Poe's gaze follows Finn back to the campfires, and you shuffle on your feet a bit, trying not to break the quiet hanging between you and Poe. Feeling a weird tension, you finish your mess tin dinner and put it down on a nearby rock.

"Ummm, like I was saying, sir," you hesitantly restart the conversation, "Rey's only been bringing me along. I mean, she seems hesitant to bring anyone along at all…"

Poe's gaze had yet to turn back to you yet, "Maybe...maybe not. There'd be more than a couple of people besides you who'd go with Rey at drop of a hat if she asked them."

"Like Finn, sir? Look, whatever it...the thing...," you find yourself trying to put the words together, but find yourself derailed when Poe turns back to you, eyebrows raised as if deliberately inviting comment with the rest of his face suspiciously neutral.

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

You sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose, "Rey and Finn saved each other at the most critical and formative moments of each others' lives. That kind of creates a bond between anyone, it doesn't invalidate any other bonds and loyalties they have with other people. I mean, Rey's saved all of us at one time or another, she's bonded to all of us that way."

A reluctant smile crosses Poe's face, and he huffs a short chuckle, "Yeah, she does seem to do a lot of that...saving us all."

"I guess...that's part of being a Jedi," you shrug, "Besides, from how I hear it, you and Finn saved each other even more times. Rey can't get in between that, and she wouldn't want to…"

"Alright, alright, easy there," Poe laughed softly, "You gotta hit your bunk too, early start."

You smile slightly and nod as you turn away, "Yes, sir."

You get a few steps away before Poe jogs over and taps at your shoulder. You look back in confusion, "Sir?"

"Look…," Poe seems to wrestle with a decision before continuing, "If you, at least if you think you do, have your own Force connection? Maybe you should let Rey train you."

"But I thought-..."

Poe waves off your response, "Forget what I said before. We need every edge we can against the First Order. And...maybe having two Jedi wouldn't hurt our chances, even if you're gone for a while."

"I'm no way able to become a Jedi…"

"Just think about it, okay?"

"...I will."

And with that you headed back to the Messenger to sleep in one of the hammocks set up in the now cramped hold of your ship, with wargear and other equipment strewn about. You were already keyed up in anticipation for tomorrow, but that conversation has your mind racing. Sleep comes to you with great difficulty that night.

A Jedi?


End file.
